Temple of Venus — Sexmuseum Amsterdam
The Temple of Venus, officially the Sexmuseum Amsterdam, is one of the oldest and most-visited museums of erotic art and culture in the world, located on Damrak in the heart of Amsterdam’s historic city centre. Opened in 1985, the museum draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year with a collection spanning centuries of erotic art, from antique prints and early photography to mechanical curiosities and pop-culture artefacts relating to human sexuality.
At a glance
- Type
- Speciality museum — erotic art and culture
- Period
- Opened 1985
- Style
- Converted historic canal-district building
- Location
- Damrak 18, 1012 LH Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Coordinates
- 52.3766° N, 4.8950° E
Overview
The Sexmuseum Amsterdam, trading under the name Temple of Venus, occupies a narrow multi-storey building steps from Amsterdam Centraal Station on the busy Damrak thoroughfare. Its collection presents erotic art and objects from antiquity to the present day, framed as a cultural and anthropological survey of human sexuality across time and geography. With 675,000 visitors recorded in 2015, it ranks among the most-attended museums in the Netherlands.
History
The museum was founded in 1985 during a period when Amsterdam had already established itself as a liberal European city with a long tradition of tolerance and free expression. Its founders conceived it as a serious cultural institution, not merely a curiosity shop, situating erotic objects within artistic and historical context. Over the decades the collection has grown to include thousands of items, and the museum has become an established stop on the Amsterdam tourist trail alongside the Rijksmuseum and the Anne Frank House.
What you see
The museum’s rooms contain antique engravings, erotic paintings, early photographic prints from the 19th and early 20th centuries, and mechanical and automaton figures with erotic themes. Visitors also encounter displays of historical pornographic books, Delft-style erotic tiles, and artefacts drawn from diverse cultural traditions. The presentation is deliberately eclectic, moving freely between high art, folk craft, and popular culture to illustrate the breadth of human erotic expression across history.
Cultural significance
As one of the earliest dedicated museums of erotic art in Europe, the Temple of Venus helped establish the legitimacy of sexuality as a subject of cultural and historical inquiry. Its longevity and visitor numbers reflect Amsterdam’s distinctive tradition of engaging openly with taboo subjects in a museum context. The museum occupies a telling position in a city whose tolerance policies and Red Light District have long made it a focal point for debates about heritage, commerce, and public culture.
Practical information
Address: Damrak 18, 1012 LH Amsterdam. The museum is open daily; check the official website for current hours and admission prices. Entry is restricted to visitors aged 16 and over. The museum is located a short walk from Amsterdam Centraal Station.
Getting there
The museum is a 5-minute walk south from Amsterdam Centraal Station, following Damrak toward Dam Square. GVB trams 2, 11, 12, 13, 17, and 26 stop at Centraal Station. By Metro, use lines 51, 52, 53, or 54 to Centraal. Cycling is the preferred Amsterdam mode — Damrak has a dedicated cycle lane and bike parking nearby.