Want a private guide discovering the history of Amsterdam?
Gemma’s History Tours offers exclusive private tours in Amsterdam.
The Golden Age is key to understanding Amsterdam, both past and present. Unique to Gemma’s tours is particular attention to women’s contribution to the development of the city.
Select a historical walking tour, a tour to the Rijksmuseum, or accompany Gemma on a short boat trip on the canals.
Want to learn more about Gemma as a private guide? Watch the video here.
'A personal tour with someone who really loves Amsterdam. Amsterdam’s city center is a living history of the 17th century, but you have to know where and how to look. Gemma knows how this works.' - Maarten van Rossem
Walking with Gemma
In the 17th century Amsterdam was the richest and most exciting place in the world. It was the center of world trade, science and the arts. How was that possible?
Understand the miracle of Amsterdam. The stories are about born entrepreneurs, visionary rulers, proud citizens and immigrants.
Time
3 hours
Price
€230 for the first person; each additional person + €25; maximum 4 people
Starting point
We meet at Dam Square
Highlights
– Dam Square with Old Town Hall
– East India House
– Old Jewish neighborhood
– Canal Belt
Our tour starts at Dam Square, the cradle of the city. Learn how Amsterdam got its unique shape and the role played by its location in the city’s success.
Discover the key city regents and visit the Est India house that played a crucial role in their wealth. Admire the beautiful bourgeois palaces they built for themselves along the canals.
Visitors from abroad watched with admiration and horror how different religions were tolerated. How did tolerance get its practical shape and what were the ideas behind that approach?
The enormous growth of Amsterdam was made possible by immigrants. Walk in the footsteps of newcomers as they settled into a new city and meet some innovative thinkers like Spinoza.
And finally: get impressed by the engineering of the canal belt, where trade prosperity, immigration and water management went hand in hand to create this Unesco world heritage site.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, women were second-class citizens and subordinate to men. But at the same time Dutch women also had the reputation of being very independent and stubborn.
Be inspired by the contributions of women to the status and building of Amsterdam.
Time
3 hours
Price
€230 for the first person; each additional person + €25; maximum 4 people
Starting point
We meet at Dam Square
Highlights
– Memorial column Miracle of Amsterdam
– Begijnenhof
– Spinhuis designated for the rehabilitation of women
– Residential house of the Roemers Visscher sisters
Meet the “beguines” and nuns who have marked the spiritual life of the city. Admire the courage of some women of the elite class who rebelled to protect a sacred pilgrimage place in town.
Shudder at the fate of witches and prostitutes who were accused of links with the devil. How were they treated and did the city manage to expel this “filth” from the city?
Throughout the city women were at work. Meet the fishwives, the innkeepers, the women selling beer, and also women who worked as appraisers of second hand furniture or as matchmakers.
Get to know the special women who demanded their place in the intellectual life of their time, like the Roemers Visscher sisters. Imagine how far some women would have come if they had not chosen to support their husbands but instead exploit their talents for their own careers.
The Jordaan was designed primarily as a neighborhood for crafts that created a nuisance in the 17th century. Now the Jordaan is a happy place for wealthy Amsterdammers. How did this change take place?
Meet the entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, social workers and philanthropists of the Jordaan.
Time
3 hours
Price
€230 for the first person; each additional person + €25; maximum 4 people
Starting point
We meet at the Westerkerk at Prinsengracht
Highlights
– Courtyards
– Workplaces Rembrandt and Frederik Ruysch
– Memorial stones 19th century slums
Learn how the area got its unique shape. Why are the streets slanted and why were so many canals turned into streets?
Meet some of the world-famous residents of the district in the 17th century, such as the anatomist and collector Frederik Ruysch, the mapmakers Blaeu and the painter Rembrandt van Rijn.
Visit some typical courtyards where mostly destitute women and vulnerable widows were given shelter and which are still an oasis of peace in a busy city.
The Jordaan was in the 19th century synonymous with abject poverty and wretched housing. Reflect on the memorial stones on which the slum of those days is mapped and see what has been done to improve the neighborhood during the past century.
How true is this image of people of the Jordaan as having hearts of gold, being united, straightforward, and fearless of authority? I will let you in on where to go if you want to get a real Jordaan experience.
The Dutch Republic was exceptional in the 17th century. In all areas – politics, economics, art and science – the Republic surpassed all other European nations.
See the paintings on the 17th century floor of the Rijksmuseum and thus behold the miracle of the Republic.
Time
2,5 hours
Price
€250 for the first person (including ticket); each additional person + €50 (including entrance ticket); maximum 4 people
Starting point
We meet at the entrance of the Rijksmuseum
Highlights
– Night Watch by Rembrandt
– Milkmaid by Vermeer
– Adriaen and Gerard Bicker by van der Helst
– The corpses of the De Witt brothers by De Baen
Get a crash course in 17th century Dutch history, which revolves around the war against the Spaniards and the internal struggle between Protestants and Catholics.
See how the painting changes when the church and the court stop providing patronage and the taste of merchants becomes leading.
Admire the many of the famous old masters, like Rembrandt, Vermeer and Jan Steen.
Meet the proud regents who posed for Rembrandt and Van Der Helst. And meet the Orange family, portrayed with pomp.
Pause at Rembrandt’s Night Watch and be inspired by his painting technique and by the role played by the militia company on his canvas in society.
Finally, shudder at a painting of the political murder of the brothers De Witt, one of the signs that the miracle of the Republic is over at the end of the 17th century.
The story of the 17th century, but now from the women’s perspective of that time. At that time they played a subordinate role, but they manifest themselves in numerous paintings.
How are they painted and what did they paint themselves?
Time
2,5 hours
Price
€250 for the first person (including ticket); each additional person + €50 (including entrance ticket); maximum 4 people
Starting point
We meet at the entrance of the Rijksmuseum
Highlights
– Kenau Hasselaer, anonymous portrait
– Still Life with Flowers by Rachel Ruysch
– The Serenade by Judith Leyster
– The Dollhouse of Petronella Oortman
Meet the great artists Judith Leyster, Rachel Ruysch, Gesina ter Borch and Anna Roemers Visscher. See how they distinguished themselves from their male colleagues and what techniques they used.
Empathize with the entrepreneur Kenau Hasselaer who mobilized the women of her city in the fight against Spain.
Watch how women are depicted and what the paintings reveal about the relationship between men and women at that time. What did it mean to be a housewife at that time? What was life like if you had enough money and were married to one of the Orange family?
Be inspired by the stories of various strong women who fearlessly stood up for their rights, were in charge of large trading houses, and were quirky enough to grow the first pineapple in our country.
Boating with Gemma
