Discover the painful past.

Time

Approx 20 - 35 min, but you are most welcome at our museum and roam around.

About the museum

Right in the centre of Amsterdam, on the Singel 449, is where you find the torture museum. The Torture Museum is the perfect activity in Amsterdam!

Until a few centuries ago, each European city had its scaffold on the market place and a gallows field at the gate.

The rack below the city hall was a common method for sharp interrogation, and the executioner had a recognised trade.
Ecclesiastical lawyers devised special punishments for the exceptional crimes of witchery and heresy.
The Spanish Inquisition used an elaborate range of instruments to fight against those evil works of the devil.

The Torture Museum provides a vivid image of this painful past.

The international exhibition “Punishments and Verdicts in the Middle Ages” includes over 40 instruments of punishment from different parts of Europe, from the inquisition chair to the guillotine. They are illustrated with engravings and described with historical background information in eight languages.

Extra information

We are opened from 10 in the morning until 11 in the evening.