Allard Pierson Museum

The Allard Pierson Museum is the archaeological museum of the University of Amsterdam. It is situated at the Oude Turfmarkt 127. The name of the Allard Pierson Museum derives from the first professor Classical Archaeology at the University of Amsterdam, Allard Pierson. This former clergyman, was invited in 1877 to occupy the chair of Aesthetics, Art History and Modern Languages at the newly founded university. His passion for antiquity, fuelled by his travels to the Mediterranean area, led to his collecting plaster casts.

The ancient civilisations of ancient Egypt, the Near East, the Greek World, Etruria and the Roman Empire are revived in this museum. Art-objects and utensils, dating from 4000 B.C. till 500 A.D. give a good impression of everyday-life, mythology and religion in Antiquity. There are also several scale models of ancient temples and buildings. In the ancient Egypt department there is a room dedicated to death with mummies, sarcophagi and a film showing the process of mummification. the so-called plaster-cast-attic, only to be visited with a guided tour, shows copies of world-famous Roman and Greek statues.