In the end of XIX century in Amsterdam had a major event for the city. On the wasteland in the southern part of the city were built three buildings that now form the Museum area and play a critical role in the lives of not only Amsterdam, but also the entire Kingdom. The Rijksmuseum (Rijksmuseum, 1885), Concert hall (1888) and the Municipal Museum (Stedelijk-Museum, 1895).

The building of the City Museum of red brick, with a small turret, designed in the Dutch Renaissance style of the XVI century. Inside the building several times reconstructed and modernized.

First City Museum talked about the history of Amsterdam. Here exhibited old furniture and appliances, as well as the insignia of the Amsterdam police. In the early twentieth century, the profile of the Museum is changing. In the Museum's collections start to appear not only objects of decorative art, but also paintings by contemporary artists – paintings and drawings. The Stedelijk-Museum the first museums of modern art began to purposefully collect and to exhibit photographic work.

In the Museum collection is represented in almost all areas of modern art. Here assembled a significant collection of works by Russian artists of the early XX century: Chagall, Kandinsky, Malevich. In the Museum you can see works of Cezanne, Picasso, Monet, Renoir. Great attention is paid to the representatives of the most modern trends and directions. In the collection of the Museum numbers about 90,000 works and continues to grow.

In 2012 there was opened a new Museum building.