The museum also provides much information on Amsterdam-related themes, such as the history of the St Andrew's crosses on Amsterdam’s coat of arms, which may have been adopted from the arms of the Van Amstel family. The city was given permission to surmount the depiction of a shield with a crown in 1489 by Roman Emperor Maximilian I. The two lions were added as supports in the early 16th Century. Finally, in 1947, Queen Wilhelmina allowed Amsterdam to add her own motto to the city’s coat of arms Heroic, Determined, Merciful.

The collections of the museum include a vast array of important Amsterdam paraphernalia. The Pilgrim’s Insignia, dating from 1400 to 1450, represent the city as a centre of pilgrimage since 1346, the year an alleged miracle took place on street Kalverstraat. The house on Kalverstraat, where the miracle took place, was destroyed and replaced by the Heilige Stede Chapel, which was located on the site of the present-day Rokin Plaza. The crucifix of the 15th Century, another pilgrim’s insignia, exemplifies a vast selection of similar tokens found by archaeologists in Amsterdam. In the Medieval period, pilgrims would buy tokens at the shrines they traveled to, which served as amulets against evil and as proof for having completed their sacred journey. For many years, Amsterdam was a centre of pilgrimage, as many flocked to the site each year to celebrate the ‘miracle of Amsterdam’.

Another notable item at the museum is a Pietà by an anonymous author, completed in 1450, which depicts the Virgin Mary lamenting the dead Christ. The statue was found inside a coffin while unearthing the graveyard of the former cloister of St Gertrude, at Amsterdam's Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal. The cloister was presumably built shortly before 1432. The chapel, where the Pietà was supposedly installed, was constructed in about 1450. The statue suffered some damage, probably during the Iconoclast riots of 1578, as Protestant mobs rampaged through the city streets and ransacked Catholic churches. Later, following efforts to protect it, the nuns hid the Pietà in the yard.

The section of the museum dealing with the 20th Century presents World War II in Amsterdam, including building plans; growing up in Amsterdam; the new life of immigrants; and Provo, the Dutch counterculture movement in the mid-1960s. A vast selection of audiovisual and interactive programmes are offered as well, including displays for children. The most important issues of the time are presented in the temporary exhibitions. In the summer months, visitors can sit down outside in the museum’s inner courtyards, where the David & Goliath restaurant is located, and the museum shop offers a wide assortment of souvenirs.