One of the main tourist attractions of the Dutch city that competes with the most famous museums.
“Amsterdam, the city of museums”. Or so they talk about tourists and locals. The best known are definitely Van Gogh Museum, Rijksmuseum and Stedelijk Museum.
But Amsterdam is home of more than 50 museums, are attracting millions of visitors every year: displaying from the Golden Age masterpieces to modern art, from cinema to photography, from the sex museum to that of the sea, of cats or glasses.
The Amsterdam Tattoo Museum is dedicated to the history of art and conservation of tattoo culture. The creator, the Dutch tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher, better known as Hanky Panky, is a true institution in the world of tattoos: among its clients also many stars, like Kate Moss, Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Keith Flint of Prodigy and Kurt Kobain.
The museum is housed in two traditional 19th-century houses, on three floors, the museum illustrating the history of tattooing in different countries and cultures through a large collection of photos, documents, machines, and paintings. All to document the history of the tattoo, from prehistory to today.
It is open from Monday to Saturday, from 11.00 am to 6.00 pm and the entrance ticket costs 10 euros.
Dr. Lars Krutak, an anthropologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, said at the inauguration of the museum:
An incredible place to learn the meaning of the tattoo from all angles, from all eras. There is really nothing like it, that can cover a wide range of tattoos through time and places, from the tribal world to the contemporary tattoo.
Inside the tattoo machines exhibition, the instruments of the legendary Suluape family, Samoa tattoo artists, and many prints by the masters of Japan. Lots of curiosities, like a whale hunter’s tattooed skin. Inside the museum, there is also a library, a cafeteria, a bookshop, and a memorial. But also everything related to famous tattooists such as Les Skuse, Joseph Hartley, George Bone, Peter Tattoo, Ole Hansen, AT Sinclair, Bob Roberts, Mike Malone, Amund Dietzel, Milton Zeis, Jonsey, Charlie Wagner, Captain Don Leslie, Mingins Rich etc.
Address: Plantage Middenlaan 62, 1018DH – Amsterdam
