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“Nieuwe” Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht. At first, takers for the new land were few and far between and the city had no option but to offer it to charities at discount prices. One result was the establishment of the Amstelhof, a large hofje (almshouse) built for the care of elderly women (and ultimately men too) in the 1680s on behalf of the Dutch Reformed Church. In time, the Amstelhof, a singularly stern-looking structure, grew to fill most of the chunk of land between Nieuwe Herengracht and Nieuwe Keizersgracht, becoming a fully fledged hospital in the process, but in the 1980s it became clear that its medical facilities were out of date and it went up for sale. Much municipal huffing and puffing ensued until the director of the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and his Dutch contacts dreamed up a real cultural wheeze: they proposed that the Amstelhof be turned into a museum, Hermitage Amsterdam, at Nieuwe Herengracht 14 (daily 10am–5pm; €10; www.hermitage.nl), for the display of items loaned from the original Hermitage. It was – and is – a very ambitious scheme, with a substantial number of galleries now displaying prime pieces. Exhibitions, which usually last about five months, have included “Nicholas & Alexandra” and “Palace Protocol in the Nineteenth Century”.

The Old Jewish Quarter and Eastern docklands | The Plantagebuurt |

Nieuwe Keizersgracht

In the nineteenth century, many wealthier Jews escaped the crowded conditions of the Old Jewish Quarter to live along Nieuwe Keizersgracht and Nieuwe Prinsensgracht, but this community did not survive World War II. One painful reminder of the occupation still stands at Nieuwe Keizersgracht 58, across the canal behind the Amstelhof. From 1940, this house, with its luxurious Neoclassical double doorway set beneath twin caryatids, was the headquarters of the Judenrat (Jewish Council), through which the Germans managed the ghetto and organized the deportations. The role of the Judenrat is extremely controversial. Many have argued that they were tainted collaborators, who hoped to save their own necks by working with the Germans and duping their fellow Jews into thinking that the deportations were indeed – as Nazi propaganda insisted – about the transfer of personnel to new employment in Germany. Just how much the council leaders knew about the gas chambers remains unclear, but after the war the surviving members of the Jewish Council successfully defended themselves against charges of collaboration, claiming that they had been a buffer against the Germans rather than their instruments.

The Old Jewish Quarter and Eastern docklands | The Plantagebuurt |

Hortus Botanicus

The lush Hortus Botanicus (Mon–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat & Sun 10am–5pm; closes 4pm Dec & Jan; closes 7pm July & Aug; €7; www.dehortus.nl) is an appealing – if smallish – botanical garden whose entrance is on Plantage Middenlaan. The Hortus was founded in 1682 as medicinal gardens for the city’s physicians and apothecaries after an especially bad outbreak of the plague. Thereafter, many of the city’s merchants made a point of bringing back exotic species from the East, the result being the six-thousand-odd plant species exhibited today – both outside and in a series of hothouses. Botanical specimens also went the other way; in 1848, for instance, two oil palms left the gardens for Java, where they were used to establish the first of that island’s many oil palm plantations.

Hortus Botanicus

The gardens are divided into several distinct sections, each clearly labelled, its location pinpointed on a map available at the entrance kiosk. Most of the outdoor sections are covered by plants, trees and shrubs from temperate and Arctic zones, with many of the more established trees dating back to a major replanting in 1895. The largest of the hothouses is the Three-Climate Glasshouse, partitioned into separate climate zones: subtropical, tropical and desert. The gardens also hold a butterfly house and a capacious palm house with a substantial collection of cycad palms. It’s all very low-key – and none the