Museum of Bags & Purses (Tassenmuseum Hendrikje)

When is a purse more than a purse? At the Tassenmuseum, purses are historical artifacts. Their collection, which has pieces from as early as the 16th century, includes men’s and women’s bags and shows how their form and function has changed along with our culture: for example, they went from being worn under clothes to being carried outside of them; and celebrity culture inspired bags named for stars like Grace Kelly. The museum is, unsurprisingly, home to one of the best gift shops in the city, and its tea room is one of Amsterdam’s finest.