Museum

September 26, 2015

Zuiderzee Museum – Story of a Rich Culture

Our trip to the city of Amsterdam was coming to an end. We witnessed some of the great historic places of the city along with its amazing museums which made this trip for all of us a great success. The food and beverages at various cafes and restaurants of the city also needs a special mention. Before heading back to India, we went to pay visit to a last attraction and an important museum of the city known as Zuiderzee Museum.

zuiderzee museum

Zuiderzee museum | Image Resource : wikimedia.org

The Zuiderzee museum is one of the most captivating museums of the city which is divided into two parts the open air Buitenmuseum, and an indoor Binnenmuseum. The first section which we visited inside the museum was the Buitenmuseum which was opened in the year 1983. The section showcases how Zuiderzee life was between the years 1880 – 1932 by assembling all their houses, farms and sheds.

The inhabitants of the Zuiderzee tribe are dressed in traditional dresses and also have real bakery shops, chemists and sweet shops. The basic purpose of this section is to preserve the culture of the Zuiderzee people which the Dutch seemed to lose while chasing Modernity and development.

The next section where we visited was the Binnenmuseum. This is an indoor museum and is in a form of home and a warehouse of the Dutch Shipping Merchant. The displays inside the museum include paintings, prints and other materials which relates to fishing and farming industry of the city. Some of the cultural artefacts and symbols of Dutch are also on display at the museum. Artefacts like Jewellery, costumes, stones, porcelain; silver and gold are put on display signifying the Dutch wealth during the era.

The museum is a great place to learn more about the transition of the Holland journey toward development and Progress and also how its indigenous people used to live. The way museum is organised and divided into some of the interesting sections is worth an admiration.

This visit to the Zuiderzee museum was our last in the city of Amsterdam. We were now getting ready to go back to our homes taking some of the profound memories of the place and its culture.

September 10, 2015

Destination Of The Week : Frans Hals Museum Netherlands

frans hals museum netherlands

Frans Hals Museum Netherlands | Image Resource : netherlands-tourism.com

Summarization : Another popular tourist destination in Netherlands is the Frans Hals Museum Netherlands. It is named after the famous 17th-century Frans Hals paintings. The museum is located in the Harlem city of Netherlands. Though it was established centuries back, it is one of most well maintained and updated museums around the world.

September 3, 2015

National Museum Of Ethnology Netherlands

national museum of ethnology netherlands

National Museum Of Ethnology Netherlands | Image Resource :  outpie.com

Description : National museum of ethnology Netherlands is another popular tourist destination of Netherlands. It is also called as the Rijksmuseum Van Oudheden Netherlands in the local Dutch language. The museum houses ancient archeological displays of various regions and eras. Being the national museum it is quite huge, it can easily take a few hours to truly explore it.

September 1, 2015

Anne Frank Museum – Depicting the Pain and Trauma of Jews during 2nd World War

The visit to the Dutch railway museum was very informative and a pleasant one. We got to know a lot about the history of railways and how through the colonial channels the railway as a technology visited the Asian nations. Though the Dutch railways is now modern with all the technical and modern facilities the railways in our nation still lags far behind their European counterparts. The next place which we visited in Amsterdam was the Anne Frank House.

Anne Frank House

Anne Frank House | Image Resource :pinimg.com

It is basically a historical and biographical museum which is dedicated to the Jewish wartime diarist known as Anne Frank. It is said that during the Second World War, Anne Frank and many other Jews hid from the Nazis in the rear of this 17th century house. Though she didn’t survive the war but her diary was published later on and the whole house was preserved later on by the Anne frank Foundation.

This museum was opened for the public in the year 1960 and still preserves the hiding room of the Jews. The museum also has exhibitions on the life and times of Anne Frank as well as on topics like inequality, discrimination and racism. The museum is a very famous location in the city and is third most popular museum after the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum.

One can see and feel the pain and trauma of those Jews who were hiding here by just seeing those small rooms where hundreds of them hid to escape the persecution from the hands of Hitler’s forces. It is also the same place where Ms Anne Frank used to write her diary and talk about the trauma of the war and persecution of the fellow Jews.

A trip to this museum gives the visitor a slight idea about how horrific the Second World War was to the European nations and to one particular community. Once we were done with the visit to the Anne Frank Museum we headed for our next place of visit which was the Westerkerk. This is the biggest church in the country built in the year 1631 and translates in English as the Western church.

June 30, 2015

Museum Of Vancouver – The Largest Civic Museum In Canada

After having a great time at the Classical Chinese garden the next destination that we headed towards was the Museum of Vancouver which was formerly known as Vancouver museum. Both my kids were very eager to visit this civic museum of Vancouver as they are always keen to know more about the history. Established in the year 1894 this local museum situated in the Vanier Park of Vancouver is of great significance as it is the oldest museum in Vancouver and also holds the honour of being the largest civic museum of Canada.

Museum of Vancouver

Museum of Vancouver | Image Resource : 48hourvisit.com

The museum was built long back but has gone through major renovation recently in the year 2008. The museum holds exhibitions and programs that focus on the past, present and the future prospects of the Vancouver city. The permanent exhibits of this museum narrate the history of Vancouver from the early 1900s to the late 1970s. The contemporary exhibits of the Vancouver museum are really groundbreaking. The museum shares its resources with the H. R. Macmillan Space centre.

Bicycle in Museum of Vancouver

Bicycle in Museum of Vancouver | Image Resource : vancouverisawesome.com

Located at the 1100 chestnut street in the Vanier Park this museum is easily accessible from all parts of the city via public transport.  The museum shares its park with the Vancouver Academy of music, the Vancouver Archives, Vancouver Maritime museum and the Bard on the beach. Built by the Art, Historical and scientific Association of the city of Vancouver this museum aims at relishing the beauty and refinements in life. This museum has been affiliated to prominent institutions namely the British Columbia Museum association, Virtual Museum of Canada, CHIN and CMA.

Animals Statue in Museum of Vancouver

Animals Statue in Museum of Vancouver | Image Resource : kitsilano.ca

The building of the museum of Vancouver was designed by the famous architect Gerard Hamilton and incorporates a planetarium as well. The roof of the museum is distinctive as it resembles the shape of a woven basket hat. The artefacts that are kept on display in the museum tell the story of the golden past of the Metro Vancouver area. The museum houses more than 65000 entities in its collection which can be searched online on the website of the MOV.

May 30, 2015

The Swedish History Museum : The Rich Culture and Heritage on Display

Once we were done with our visit to the Royal Opera House at Stockholm, Sweden, we visited the History Museum of Sweden located at Stockholm. The museum is one of the largest in the country of Sweden that has covered all the themes from Swedish history to archaeology from Mesolithic age onwards. As a lover of history I was quite fascinated and excited to visit the place. The museum houses some 10 million artefacts from across Sweden.

The museum gave us good knowledge and information about the history and culture of not only Sweden but of other Scandinavian nations like Norway, Finland and son. The history of the Royal family of Sweden is also captured by the museum. We had a lot to learn about the different races and traditional knowledge of Sweden from this museum.

swedish history museum

Swedish History Museum | Image Resource : en.wikimedia.org

There were also artefacts which showed about the horrific effects of the two world wars on the European nations. The main attraction inside the museum was the Gold Room, where a huge quantity of Gold and Silver artefacts is put on a display. These are very old artefacts some dating 1000 years back.

treasure finds in the gold room of the swedish history museum

Intricate Muslim Architecture At The Paigah Tombs In Hyderabad | Image Resource : panoramio.com

The museum is also a good site to see objects and find information about the Vikings. There were subtitles in English on all the displays. We had taken an audio guide in English for this trip to museum in order to understand the traditional artefacts and its history. The rich culture and heritage put on display at the Natural History Museum of Sweden has a lot of knowledge for the seekers and for those who are simply interested in learning about the culture of Sweden.

The gift shop in the museum has many important and interesting artefacts to buy and keep as memory of this Swedish trip. We also had a delicious coffee and some sandwiches at the restaurant of the museum. The staffs of the museum were very friendly and the best thing was that this museum was maintained very well by its authority.

coffee and sandwiches

Coffee and Sandwiches | Image Resource : yelp.com

After this delighting trip to the History Museum we planned for our visit to the final destination of our trip to Tyska Kirkan at Stockholm, about which I will be sharing in the following post.

May 12, 2015

Skansen Open Air Museum : A treat for all lovers of history

The Djurgarden Island was a vast place with many places of interest like the amusement park and museums and places. One such place of interest on the island was the open air museum of Skansen. The museum was tribute to the traditional and cultural heritage of Sweden. The museum was built in 1881 and while whole European societies were undergoing an Industrial transformation in the 19th century, Sweden was no exception. So in order to preserve some of the lost cultural and traditional heritage of Sweden this museum was built.

The history of the museum is very interesting for any lover of culture and traditional knowledge. The founder of this museum, Arthur Azelius, it is said travelled throughout Sweden to bring and transport 150 houses, shipped piece by piece to this museum in order to preserve the picture of traditional Sweden. They feared that this rapid industrialization will take over the rural aspects and give way to modernity where the traditional knowledge will be lost forever.

skansen open air museum

Skansen Open Air Museum | Image Resource : onlyworth.wordpress.com

the skansen open air museum - natural exhibitions

The Skansen Open Air Museum – Natural exhibitions | Image Resource : bestourism.com

The museum used to be a part of the Nordic museum but since 1968 it was an independent building. The open air museum spans an area of 75 acres where different craftsmen display their skills from time to time. There are open fields growing different crops and yields. We saw one such field growing tobacco which is used for the making of cigarettes.

The open air zoo was the favourite area of everyone inside the Skansen museum. The museum houses rare Scandinavian animals like brown bear, moose, gray seal, lynx, otter, and red fox and so on. Watching these animals was joy in itself. The farmsteads inside the museum too have housed many rare farm animals.

brown bear in skansen open air museum

Brown Bear in Skansen Open Air Museum | Image Resource : francisnordictrip.travellerspoint.com

moose in skansen open air museum

Moose in Skansen Open Air Museum | Image Resource : philip.greenspun.com

There were quite a number of tourists from mixed races inside the Skansen museum which suggested that tourists from around the world visit this unique and one of a kind museum in this part of the world. All of us seemed to have been thrilled with the visit to the open air museum.

The next place in our visit was the Monteliusvägen, a beautiful and scenic pathway along the astonishing Lake Malaren.