Museum Van Loon

The van Loon family owned this magnificent patrician house between 1884 and 1945. One of a matched pair dating from 1672, its first occupant was the artist Ferdinand Bol, a student of Rembrandt. On its walls hang more than 80 family portraits, including those of Willem van Loon, one of the founders of the Dutch East India Company; Nicolaas Ruychaver, who liberated Amsterdam from the Spanish in 1578; and another, later, Willem van Loon, who became mayor in 1686. Among many other treasures you'll see on a visit, which should last an hour or two, are a family album containing tempera portraits of van Loons living in the 1600s, and commemorative coins struck to honor seven different golden wedding anniversaries celebrated between 1621 and 1722. A marble staircase with an ornately curlicued brass balustrade leads up through the house, connecting restored period rooms filled with richly decorated paneling, stuccowork, mirrors, fireplaces, furnishings, porcelain, medallions, chandeliers, rugs, and more. The garden boasts carefully tended hedges and a coach house modeled on a Greek temple.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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