The following is only a sampling of the city's many small museums. You can see our write ups of the city's major museums by clicking here.
See the world through cats' eyes in sculptures, paintings, and prints at the KattenKabinet (Cat Cabinet), Herengracht 497 (tel. 020/626-5378; www.kattenkabinet.nl; tram: 16, 24, or 25). The museum is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm, and Saturday, Sunday, and holidays from noon to 5pm (closed Jan 1, Apr 30, and Dec 25, 26, and 31). Admission is 57€ for adults, 4€ for studens, and free for children 12 and under.
Surely the most rollicking museum in town is the Pianola Museum, Westerstraat 106 (tel. 020/627-9624; www.pianola.nl; tram: 3 or 10), at Tweede Boomdwarsstraat in the Jordaan. Aficionados congregate in a front-room brown cafe to sip coffee and to listen to, and sing along with, vintage tunes played on some of the three dozen old player-pianos and automated music machines -- around half of them still in working order -- in this private collection. Among some 14,000 "recordings" on perforated-paper rolls are works by Debussy and Gershwin. The museum is open Friday-Saturday from 1 to 6pm, Sundays 1 to 4pmand for groups by appointment.
Geels & Co., a coffee-roasting and tea-importing store in the Red Light District, has been around for more than a century. It has a marvelous collection of antique grinders, roasters, tea canisters, and all sorts of coffee-and-tea-brewing paraphernalia in its small, atmospheric upstairs Koffie en Thee Museum (Coffee and Tea Museum), Warmoesstraat 67 (tel. 020/624-0683; www.geels.nl; tram: 4, 9, 14, 16, 24, or 25), at Oude Brugsteeg. Admission is free.
A boutique known for selling modern, fashionable (and occasionally bizarre) eyeglasses is the Brilmuseum (Eyeglass Museum), Gasthuismolensteeg 7 (tel. 020/421-2414; www.brilmuseumamsterdam.nl; tram: 1, 2, 5, 13, 14, or 17), between Singel and Herengracht. It lives up to its billing by displaying a collection of antique eyeglasses and taking you on an eye-opening tour through 700 years of impaired-vision aids. It's quite a spectacle. It's open Wednesday to Friday from noon to 5:30pm, and Saturday from noon to 5pm; admission is free.
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.
