The museum is housed in a former naval storehouse, designed by the Dutch architect Daniel Stalpaert and constructed in 1656. The museum moved to this building in 1973. The museum is dedicated to maritime history and contains many artifacts associated with shipping and sailing. The collect contains, amongst other things, paintings, scale models, weapons and world maps. The paintings depict Dutch naval officers such as Michiel de Ruyter and impressive historical sea battles.

The museum also has a surviving copy of the first edition of Maximilian Transylvanus' work, De Moluccis Insulis, the first to describe Ferdinand Magellan's voyage around the world. Moored outside of the museum is a replica of the Amsterdam, an 18th-century ship which sailed between the Netherlands and the East Indies. The replica was built in the years 1985-1990. After an extensive renovation 2007-2011, Het Scheepvaartmuseum reopened on 2nd October 2011.

1018 KK Amsterdam