Hetscheepvaartmuseum

I was in Amsterdam last weekend and had a spare hour to visit Hetscheepvaartmuseum, the Maritime Museum.

My two primary aims were to visit the Globe and Navigation sections, but I'm always happy to wander around other exhibits in a museum like this.  It is a beautiful building, both externally and inside.

The globe gallery was awesome.

Over 70 globes from large 68cm diameter ones to wee babes, pocket sized 6.75cm diameter.  There was understandably a good selection by the 17th century Johan Blaeu from Amsterdam.  This pocket one was by Joseph Moxon from London.
 
Obviously there were not just terrestrial globes but celestial (navispheres) too.  This 23cm diameter one is by a French naval officer.

A planetarium.

A Telluruium, showing the movement of the earth around the sun.

I then visited the Navigational Instruments section.

These tobacco boxes have carvings on the lid to held calculate the speed of the ship.

Sextants galore.

A semi automatic sextant?

Chronometer.

Plumb line anyone?

And a compass.

I wandered out to the rigged ship, the Amsterdam, which is a replica of a VOC, Dutch East India Company, vessel which ran aground in the Channel in 1749.

I could have stayed here all day.

Messy chart cabinet.

And a more modern variant, back inside the main museum.

And I even found a geo bag to buy.

A fun hour or so. A few more photos here.