Bijbels Museum

After you check out Amsterdam’s marijuana museum, its torture museum and its sex museum, stop by the Bijbels Museum (Biblical Museum) to see a curious collection of biblical memorabilia. The museum was founded in 1975 and resides in the Cromhaut houses, two canal-side buildings with a history of their own.

The museum’s collection has a rich history, making a visit enjoyable for anyone, regardless of religious belief. The museum contains an impressive collection of Bibles, including the oldest Bible printed in the Netherlands as well as the first edition of the 1637 Dutch Authorized Version. One can also find an exact copy of a Dead Sea Scroll that contains the Book of Isaiah.

There is also a fair share of archaeological objects too, including oil lamps, coins, pottery, tablets and pottery shards from ancient Egypt. Visitors will also find old models of religious temples as well as a 19th-century model of the Tabernacle, a reconstruction of a sacred shrine mentioned in the Bible.

The Cromhaut houses themselves were built in 1662 by a renowned architect by the name of Philips Vingboons. The architecture is rich and radiates with history. If the bibles bore you it, houses two of the best preserved 17th-century antique kitchens in the Netherlands.