Amsterdam, city of photographs

Maria Austria Institute: 35 years
18 March 2011 – 5 June 2011

For this exhibition of photographs of Amsterdam, 150 images were selected from the enormous collection of 250,000 Amsterdam photographs possessed by the Maria Austria Institute. These images − many of them revealing an unexpected angle and some quite astonishing – show a changing city with its residents, workers and tourists: Seventy years of Amsterdam, from 1935 up to and including 2005.

Parts of the city shown here have changed or vanished; some parts are cursed, while others lift the soul. The population is a generation of Amsterdammers who have seen a great deal without recording it all. Luckily,
numerous photographers have documented it: Eva Besnyö, Carel Blazer, Paul Huf, Wubbo de Jong,
Philip Mechanicus, Sem Presser, Annelies Romein, Kees Scherer, Cor van Weele, Ad Windig, Eli van Zachten and dozens of illustrious fellow-photographers whose archives are managed by the Maria Austria Institute (MAI).
The exhibition and the accompanying book were compiled to mark the thirty-fifth anniversary of the MAI, whose
premises are in the building of Amsterdam City Archives.

The exhibition was made possible by the financial support of the Amsterdams Archieffonds and the Friends of
Amsterdam City Archives foundation.

Amsterdam City Archives Vijzelstraat 32
Phone: +31 (0)20 2511511
E-mail: secretariaat@stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl

Opening hours Tuesday to Friday: 10 am – 5 pm
Saturday and Sunday: 11 am – 5 pm
Closed on 30th of April (Queens Day)

Admission

Adults € 5
Children 12-18, CJP, Stadspas, Museumkaart € 3
Children under 12, Rembrandtkaart, City Card Amsterdam, Friends of the Stadsarchief free of charge
Guided tours Available on request € 85, admission not included. Contact: groepsrondleidingen@stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl
Public transport Trams 16, 24, 25, stop Keizersgracht

Permanent Exhibition: Treasury

Three hundred of the most attractive, unusual, valuable and moving Treasures from the archives, selected on the basis of 24 themes such as Love, Death, Power, Fame, and Vanished Amsterdam. And what do Rembrandt van Rijn, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Anne Frank, Queen Beatrix, Johan Cruijff and Theo van Gogh all have in common? The answer: you can find all these famous names in the Treasury. In the Treasury’s large safes or ‘kofferkluizen’ you can also see short films, stereo photographs, autochromes (early colour slides) and the City Archives’ very latest acquisitions.

Treasury online

Admission: Free

Film auditorium (Dutch spoken)

The continuous presentation in the film auditorium is free of charge. You can come and go as you please. In the next six months, there will be two premières: Amsterdam in the 1950s and 1980s.

Admission: Free

April

Premiere film; Amsterdam in the 1900s-1920s

May

Amsterdam in the 1930s

June

Amsterdam in the 1950s

Group tours in English

It is possible to book a group guided tour in advance on the date of your choosing during the City Archives’ opening hours. You can opt for a guided tour around the De Bazel building and the City Archives or a themed tour in the Treasury. The themes are: 1 Power in Mokum; (politics, justice, crime); 2 Young and old in Amsterdam (children, care, welfare, life and death); 3 Art and Culture; 4 Money and Trade; 5 Religion. We also offer educational tours for all ages, ranging from primary school to university, designed to acquaint students with archives and collections. On request, we can also focus on a single theme or subject of your choice. It is also possible to organise tutorials at the City Archives.

Advance booking is essential, call: +31 (0)20 2511619 or send an e-mail: groepsrondleidingen@stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl

Café De Bazel

Relax with a cup of coffee and a tasty treat at Café De Bazel. The perfect venue for a delicious lunch!

City bookshop

Everything published about Amsterdam is for sale here. The City bookshop regularly hosts book presentations. For details, take a look at the website:
www.stadsboekwinkel.nl

Information centre

In the information centre, there are more than a hundred workstations with fast Internet connection, a spacious reference library with books and periodicals about Amsterdam and a large series of photo albums with thousands of historic photographs of Amsterdam. You can also find the sources you need for genealogical and topographic research, including microfiches of births, deaths and marriages, the population register and reproductions of the collections of maps and architectural drawings.

Study room and copy centre

Within half an hour of your request, the original documents from the archives and collections will be available for your personal research and can be copied on request. Please note: personal registration is necessary to view originals. In the copy centre, you can of course order a print of an attractive historical photograph of your house.

Last modified on June 8 2011