Amsterdam’s famed 17th century canal district, a major tourist draw which was added to Unesco’s World Heritage List last year, now boasts its own museum.

“The history of the canals had never been told,” said Piet van Winden, the head of the Grachtenhuis private museum which has just opened to the public. “They are probably the best conceived urban extension project in the world,” he said. “Here, we set the scene, we explain the how and why,” he said. “Our goal is to be a sort of gateway to the splendour of the canals. It’s then up to each visitor to discover them on foot, by bicycle or by boat.”

An estimated three million foreign tourists flock to the so-called Venice of the North to visit its protected canal belt, which is home to 8,000 monuments and will mark its 400th anniversary in 2013. The four curved canals – the Singel, the Herengracht, the Keizergracht and the Prinsengracht – are a remnant of the Dutch Golden Age when this metropolis led the world in art, trade and architecture. Fourteen kilometres long in total, and crossed by 80 bridges, they form a concentric belt around the city centre, including its famous red light district.