Amsterdam’s newest museum: Red Light Secrets

Amsterdam is home to a brand new attraction that will shed some light on part of the capital that remains largely behind closed doors, or at least windows. Red Light Secrets, Amsterdam’s museum of prostitution, offers visitors a look behind those doors, into the world’s oldest profession.

On any given day, hundreds and thousands of tourists in Amsterdam head to the Red Light District to catch a glimpse of the women working the area, standing alone in large windows in their lingerie. Finally there is a museum that lets tourists inside the industry, without having to visit a brothel. The museum is called Red Light Secrets and according to organiser Melcher de Wind, it’s a chance for people to learn more about how the area works without actually having to visit a prostitute. The museum is housed in a former brothel, a typically narrow building in Amsterdam’s famous district.

Did you know…

• prostitutes usually rent their windows on a half-day basis but can work shifts that are more than 11 hours long, six days a week?
• there are more than 900 prostitutes working in Amsterdam’s Red Light District?
• the Red Light District has over 290 windows?
• there’s also a street in the district where only transgendered prostitutes work?

Inside Red Light Secrets

The museum covers only really the recent history of prostitution in the Netherlands, around the year 2,000 when it became a legal profession. Visitors are taken through different “work” rooms in different styles as every client has their own taste, past the roster which shows which girls are in which rooms and when and to a film screening room which shows a documentary about the industry. There is even a window at the museum where visitors can experience what it’s really like to stand behind the glass and be watched by the world, probably not something you expected you’d do when you first booked flights to Amsterdam!

Museum details:

• Hours: Open daily 12:00pm – midnight
• Location: Oudezijds Achterburgwal 60H, Amsterdam
• Admission: €7.50
• More info: redlightsecrets.com

Imgs: qiou87, puisney, liber / Flickr cc.