Museum van Loon

Amsterdam's waterways are chock-a-block with grand houses. Few of their interiors have been preserved in anything approaching their original state, but the former Van Loon residence is one that has. Designed by Adriaan Dortsman, the house was originally the home of artist Ferdinand Bol. Hendrik van Loon, after whom the museum is named, bought the house in 1884; it was opened as a museum in 1973. The posh mid-18th-century interior is terrifically grand, and admirers of Louis XIV and XV decor will find much that excites. So will art-lovers: the house holds a collection of family portraits from the 17th to the 20th centuries; perhaps more unexpectedly, it hosts a modern art show every two years. The 18th-century French-style garden contains Ram Katzir's striking sculpture of a headless man, There.