Municipal Museum. Hot and happening modern art of this century and the last has one of the world's most respected homes here at the Stedelijk, which occupies, somewhat paradoxically, a wedding-cake Neo-Renaissance structure first opened in 1895. It's a home that is undergoing renovation, however: beginning in 2004, the museum will be undergoing massive refurbishment and perhaps even the addition -- pending the finding of funds -- of two new wings by Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza, all of which undoubtedly will disrupt accessibility for several years to come. So it's best to call ahead or check the Web site to avoid disappointment (or to be directed to the many planned exhibitions in temporary spaces).

With roots reaching back to when it began as an heiress's collection that included torturous mental health instruments and a bust of her late husband, the Stedelijk began to cover its present course only after World War II. It now has a collection of paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, photography, graphic design, applied arts, and new media that numbers 100,000 pieces. Although this stunning collection harbors many works by such ancients of modernism as Chagall, Cézanne, Picasso, Monet, and Malevich, there is a definite emphasis on the post-World War II period: with such local CoBrA boys as Appel and Corneille; American Pop artists as Warhol, Johns, Oldenburg, and Liechtenstein; Abstract Expressionists as de Kooning and Pollock, and contemporary German Expressionists as Polke, Richter, and Baselitz. Still, many head here to find the homegrown masterworks of the De Stijl school, including the amazing Red Blue Chair Gerrit Rietveld designed in 1918, and the noted Mondriaan canvases on display, including his 1920 Composition in Red, Black, Yellow, Blue, and Grey. When not putting together exhibitions culled from this collection, the staff curates large retrospectives or themed programs of the currently acclaimed. Lately, however, these projects have perhaps become a tad too commercial, for instance, by allowing the queen of The Netherlands to play guest curator, and critics have looked askance. COST: EUR7.