Photo: C messier, CC BY-SA 4.0
Museumplein: Attraction in Museumkwartier, Amsterdam
Getting there
Museumplein
Good to know
- Free entry
- Car park
Upcoming at Museumplein
About Museumplein
Museumplein is the large public square in Amsterdam-Zuid with the Rijksmuseum at one end and the Concertgebouw at the other. The Van Gogh Museum, Stedelijk Museum and Moco stand along its sides, so you pass through it on any museum day, and locals use the lawns as a park.
The ground has been public space for longer than the name, which dates from 1903. It hosted the colonial exhibition of 1883, and from 1887 it served as the city's ice rink in winter, with early world allround championships in 1889 and 1893. A road through the middle, nicknamed the shortest motorway in the Netherlands, closed in 1997. The square was then redesigned by landscape architect Sven-Ingvar Andersson and reopened in 1999, with an underground car park, a supermarket on the Van Baerlestraat side and a sloping lawn known as the ezelsoor.
The pond turns into an ice rink in winter. The square is also where the city gathers: the Bevrijdingsdans on 5 May and Ajax's trophy celebrations both take place here. Look out for the monument to the women of Ravensbrück and the Hel en vuur memorial to Roma and Sinti victims. The I amsterdam letters that once drew crowds to the pond were removed in 2018.
Nearby venues
- Van Gogh Museum 1071 DJ
- Het Concertgebouw 1071 LN
- Basement Amsterdam 1017 PS
- Buurtkamer Quellijn 1072 XW
- Hard Rock Cafe Amsterdam 1017 MA
- Paradiso 1017 SG
- Zuidermrkt Zuid
- O'Donnell's 1072LA
Explore nearby
Common questions
- Which museums are on Museumplein?
- The Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Stedelijk Museum and Moco are all on the square. The Concertgebouw stands at the southern end.
- Are the I amsterdam letters still on Museumplein?
- No, the city council decided to remove them and they went in 2018. They stood by the pond from 2005.
- What is the sloping lawn on Museumplein?
- It is known as the ezelsoor, or dog-ear, and came with the 1999 redesign by Sven-Ingvar Andersson. The entrance to the underground car park sits beneath it.
- Is there ice skating on Museumplein?
- The pond becomes an ice rink in winter. Skating has a long history here: an ice rink opened on the site in 1887.
- How do you get to Museumplein?
- Metro 52 stops at Vijzelgracht, less than ten minutes' walk from the Rijksmuseum, and several tram lines stop close by. There is a Q-Park underground car park at Van Baerlestraat 33b.