NEMO Science Museum

NEMO Science Museum is a hands-on science centre housed in a green copper building shaped like a huge ship, and it is one of the most recognisable structures on the Amsterdam waterfront. It stands on the Oosterdok, close to Central Station, rather than in the Rozengracht area of the Jordaan, as some listings suggest, and it sits above the entrance of the IJ tunnel, so that it appears to rise from the water. It was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano and opened in 1997, and its sloping roof, which visitors can climb, forms a public square with views over the city.

The museum's origins go back much further. It began in 1923 as the Museum of Labour, an institution aimed at showing workers how machines and industrial processes worked and at supporting education. It evolved over the decades, moving from one location to another, and became a science museum in the second half of the twentieth century, before settling in the Piano building and taking the name NEMO. The idea throughout has been to make technology and science understandable, which today means that visitors are encouraged to touch, experiment and play.

The exhibitions are spread over several floors and cover subjects such as physics, chemistry, technology, human biology and the digital world. Visitors can do experiments with water and electricity, try out machines, make bubbles and explore how the body works. A popular exhibition on video games, called Game On, allows visitors to play and to learn about the development of the industry. Daily demonstrations, including a chain reaction in which objects trigger each other in a spectacular sequence, add entertainment, and workshops in the Makery encourage creative building and prototyping.

The rooftop square is one of the best features. Reached by a broad flight of steps, it offers views over the harbour, the old centre and the Scheepvaartmuseum, and in summer it has a cafe, music, a cinema and areas for relaxing. Some visitors come only for the roof, which is free to enter outside the museum's opening hours at certain times.

The museum is aimed mainly at children aged from about six, and families make up most of its audience, though adults enjoy it too. Allow two to three hours, buy tickets online to avoid queues and check what is on in the programme. The building is within walking distance of Central Station and of the Maritime Museum.