Jewish Historical Museum. Four Ashkenazi synagogues (or shuls, as they are called in Yiddish) dating from the 17th and 18th centuries were skillfully combined with glass-and-steel constructions in 1987 into an impressive museum for documents, paintings, and objects related to the four-century history of the Jewish people in Amsterdam and The Netherlands. World War II plunder saw to it that the number of objects of a priceless and beautiful nature is limited, but the museum is still rich with a collection of unusual pieces ranging from the ceremonial to the domestic, from the antique to the modern. Back in the 17th century, Ashkenazi Jews began fleeing the pogroms in Central and Eastern Europe, finding refuge in Amsterdam, if not exactly welcomed with open arms by the already settled Sephardim community, who resented the increased competition imposed by their often poorer brethren. Separate synagogues were consequently built, and four of them make up this complex: the Neie Sjoel (New Synagogue, 1752), now given over to exhibits tracing the subject of Jewish identity; the Grote Sjoel (Great Synagogue, 1671), where the tenets of Judaism are presented; the Obbene Sjoel (Upstairs Synagogue, 1686), where the bookshop and café are found; and the Dritt Sjoel (Third Synagogue, 1700). Stars of the collection include an 18th-century Sephardic Torah Mantle, a magnificent carved wood Holy Ark dating from 1791, and the autobiographical art of the Berlin artist Charlotte Solomon (1917-43), who documented her life in 1,000 gouaches accompanied with text and music under the title Leben? oder Theater? ("Life? or Theater?"). The museum also features a resource center and one of the city's few purely kosher cafés. Whether or not you tour the collections, check out the excellent tours of the Jewish Quarter conducted by this museum. Just outside the doors is the market at Waterlooplein, where the Jewish community once thrived, and which hosts the famous flea market, as lively as it was in the 17th century. The current Jewish community itself exists largely beneath the surface of Amsterdam, many of its constituents placing Dutch identity before Judaism. COST: EUR6.50.