Not many museums can say they’re carrying on as usual while their main building is undergoing renovations. The Amsterdam Museum is doing just that. The Burgerweeshuis on Kalverstraat, a 17th-century historic building that the museum has occupied since 1975, is undergoing a thorough renovation based on a design by Neutelings Riedijk Architects. Until the renovation is complete, the museum is operating as what it calls a “network museum”: no central location, but multiple sites spread throughout the city.
Director Judikje Kiers oversees all of this. The temporary Amstel location closed on December 1, 2025, and since then, the museum has been operating at two permanent locations. The first is “Amsterdam in Motion” at the Westergas Cultuurpark, a permanent exhibition exploring the city in all its facets: past, present, and future. The second is the Huis Willet-Holthuysen on Herengracht, an authentic 17th-century canal-side house with rooms that look as if the residents have just stepped out for a moment. Hardwood floors, paintings on the walls, furniture in its original places. The building is part of the UNESCO-protected canal belt.
There’s something special about the fact that the museum isn’t confined to a single building. “Amsterdam in Motion” at Westergas literally brings the city museum into the neighborhood, away from the bustling city center. The Westergas Culture Park is located in the Staatsliedenbuurt, a very different environment from Kalverstraat. This decentralization is partly a stopgap measure, but the museum embraces it as a way of working. Collaboration with residents, artists, and organizations throughout the city is in the concept’s DNA. Incidentally, highlights from the collection are on loan to the Rijksmuseum during the renovation.
The Amsterdam Museum operates as a network museum: it has no central location, but rather multiple sites spread throughout the city.
This year will also see the addition of Louisa Beach: a temporary city beach on the Herengracht in the summer of 2026. A city museum opening a beach on the water it’s dedicated to—that fits well with the Amsterdam Museum’s current role in the city. Not confined to a historic building, but actively present in places where the city itself already is.