Amsterdam’s Jewish Museum + junior (formerly the Jewish Historical Museum) occupies four connected Ashkenazi synagogues on Jonas Daniël Meijerplein. Their restored interiors and modern links trace both centuries of Jewish communal life and the buildings’ transformation into a museum.
Quick facts
The Great Synagogue, the oldest of the four former Ashkenazi synagogues, opened in 1671; three more were added as the congregation grew.
The Rintel chanukiah was donated by Sara Rintel in 1753, hidden during the Second World War, and returned to display in the Great Synagogue after the museum acquired it.
The Jewish Historical Museum opened in the restored synagogue complex on 3 May 1987; the institution was renamed Jewish Museum in 2021.
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The Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam—today officially called the Jewish Museum + junior—occupies four former Ashkenazi synagogues on Jonas Daniël Meijerplein. Their linked rooms make a visitor move through two histories at once: the worship and communal life for which the buildings were made, and the rupture that turned them into a museum. The museum’s current address is Nieuwe Amstelstraat 1, in Amsterdam municipality; the nearby Portuguese Synagogue is a separate building and a distinct Sephardi institution.
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