Jordaanmuseum

The Jordaanmuseum is a non-profit heritage foundation, not a conventional museum with a ticket desk and daily opening hours. You experience it in three ways: an open-air installation in the Willemsstraat that you can see at any hour, a small exhibition inside the De Rietvinck care home that opens by appointment, and a guided walk on the third Saturday of each month.

That setup surprises many visitors who expect a single building, so this guide covers what each option shows, what it costs, how to book and how to reach it in the northern Jordaan.

What the Jordaanmuseum is

The Stichting Jordaanmuseum was founded in 2007 to research and share the heritage of the Jordaan, the working-class district laid out during Amsterdam’s 17th-century expansion. Its focus is everyday life: how people housed themselves, earned a living, sang, protested and got by. Much of its material comes from documents, photographs and the recollections of current and former residents, who are encouraged to add their own stories.

For 14 months, from October 2015 to 31 December 2016, the foundation did run a walk-in museum in a 19th-century house at Palmstraat 92A, lent by housing corporation Ymere. Its basement was furnished as a cellar dwelling barely 1.80 metres high, showing what life in a house declared “unfit for habitation” felt like. That temporary space has closed, and older listings describing opening hours or free daily entry there are out of date.

Het Gangenproject in the Willemsstraat

The Gangenproject is the part you can see on your own, free, 24 hours a day. Along the pavement of the Willemsstraat between numbers 22 and 110, the outlines of six vanished alleys and their adjoining plots are marked in the paving, with a stone information tile in front of each alley.

On the side wall of number 22, a 287 by 150 cm panel adds text, adapted maps, 3D objects and photographs of the alleys taken between 1897 and 1913. Cultural historian Mieke Krijger wrote the plan in 2005 after the demolition of the Pottenbakkersgang ensemble on the Westerstraat, and it was built in 2015 with the Centrum district.

Gangen, forten and hofjes

The installation explains a housing pattern most visitors never notice. For centuries, the majority of Jordaan residents lived not on the street but behind it, in houses along narrow alleys (gangen) and small courtyards. Together with the surrounding buildings, these clusters were called forten. In 1755 the Willemsstraat alone had 57 gangen, and more than 80 percent of its residents lived behind the street facades.

Forten are older and were far more numerous than the Jordaan’s better-known hofjes, the charitable almshouse courtyards that still draw visitors today. By the late 19th century many forten had decayed into slums. Four-storey buildings rose along alleys sometimes less than a metre wide, blocking light and air, and the city labelled many homes unfit for habitation.

Alley name signs across the district

Name signs mark historic alleys in the Willemsstraat and elsewhere in the Jordaan. More than 30 percent of the alleys were named after trades practised there in the early 1600s, so the signs double as a map of the neighbourhood’s craft past. The first five were unveiled on Open Monumentendag in September 2015; after the foundation addressed a city council committee in May 2019, the municipality added signs in other parts of the district.

De Jordaancultuur exhibition

The foundation’s permanent exhibition, De Jordaancultuur, fills the public areas of De Rietvinck, a residential care home at Vinkenstraat 185. It covers the riots that broke out in the Jordaan, including the 1886 Eel Riot (Palingoproer), along with poverty, resistance and the revues and songs performed in the district’s streets and theatres.

Writer Israël Querido gets special attention: in the early 20th century he lived among the men and women who became the models for characters in his novel cycle De Jordaan. Artist Anke Louwerse drew portraits of Jordaan residents for the exhibition, and photographer Theo Uytenhaak made three series of photo portraits, shown alongside first-person memories of market trading, roller-skating in the Willemsstraat and dancing on the Lindengracht.

Because De Rietvinck is a home for residents, including people living with dementia, you cannot simply walk in. Since March 2023 the exhibition has been open by appointment only, as a short guided visit you reserve in advance, for groups of up to five people. Contact the foundation at [email protected] or 020 624 4695 to arrange a time.

GangenWandelingen: monthly guided walks

The GangenWandeling is the best way to understand what you are looking at. It runs on the third Saturday of every month from 13:00 to 15:00, starting at Willemsstraat 22, and is led by Mieke Krijger, who devised the Gangenproject.

You learn to spot where alleys are or used to be, how they got their names and how centuries-old forten declined into slums. Tickets cost €12.50, or €7.50 for donors and Stadspas holders with a green dot. Upcoming dates appear on the museum’s ticket page. Groups can arrange their own date at the same per-person price, with a €55 minimum.

Ways to visit at a glance

Option	Where	When	Cost	Booking
Het Gangenproject (outdoor installation)	Willemsstraat 22–110	Any time, 24 hours	Free	Not needed
De Jordaancultuur (exhibition)	De Rietvinck, Vinkenstraat 185	By appointment only	Confirm when booking	Required, up to 5 people
GangenWandeling (guided walk)	Starts at Willemsstraat 22	Third Saturday of the month, 13:00–15:00	€12.50 (€7.50 reduced)	Buy tickets online
Group walk	Starts at Willemsstraat 22	Date and time by arrangement	€12.50 per person, €55 minimum	Email or phone

When to go

If you want the full story, plan around the third Saturday walk and book early, since it is a small, once-a-month event. A morning at the Saturday organic market on the Noordermarkt, a few minutes away, fits neatly before the 13:00 start.

For a self-guided look at the Gangenproject, go in daylight so you can read the pavement tiles and the wall panel comfortably. It is outdoors with no shelter, so check the Amsterdam weather first. The Willemsstraat is a residential street, so keep voices low and leave doorways clear.

Afterwards, the Jordaan’s famous brown cafés are an easy way to stay in the neighbourhood’s older rhythm for a drink.

How to get there

Both sites are in the northern Jordaan, within walking distance of Amsterdam Centraal Station. Walking west from the station via the Haarlemmerstraat takes roughly 15 to 20 minutes.

• Gangenproject and walk start (Willemsstraat 22): the museum recommends bus 22 from Centraal Station to the Buiten Oranjestraat stop.
• De Rietvinck (Vinkenstraat 185): the museum lists buses 18, 21 and 22 and tram 3, stop Haarlemmerplein.
• By bike: both addresses are short rides from Centraal; use official bike racks rather than locking to railings on narrow residential streets.
• By car: street parking in the Jordaan is scarce, so public transport or cycling is the simpler choice.

Public transport routes change from time to time, so check the GVB journey planner on the day you travel.

Frequently asked questions