The largest museum in the Netherlands has started a new page in its history with a renovation that has highlighted the works of the Golden Age and created a real interaction between the place and the visitors. Practical Guide.
An original building
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has a unique feature in the world: it is crossed by a cycle path, used every day by thousands of Amsterdam residents. In the 19th century, the Dutch architect Peter Cuypers imagined a building with the air of a neo-Gothic cathedral mixed with Renaissance inspiration. In 2013, Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz, the two architects who carried out the rebirth of the museum, kept the initial passage to make it a real bicycle path.
Inside, the museum covers 30,000 m2 spread over four levels, displaying paintings, sculptures, furniture and works of art like a cabinet of curiosities. If the renovation transformed 200 small rooms into 80, thus leaving more space to move around and admire the works, the museum is nevertheless so vast that it is difficult to walk around it all at once … But furniture, objects and paintings are now collected by period, which makes it easy to organize your journey, starting under the theatrical atrium in the heart of the building.
Operation “Nightwatch”, an incredible restoration project
In July 2019 the museum launched an unprecedented operation: restore Rembrandt’s masterpiece, The night watch, under the public gaze. Installed in the gallery of honor of the museum, the painting is placed under a glass case designed by Jean-Michel Wilmotte, who also signed all the scenography of the museum. During their journey, visitors thus discover the fascinating spectacle of the meticulous cleaning carried out by the restaurateurs.
Painted in 1642 by Rembrandt, the Night Watch represents the officers and members of the militia of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, commissioner of the work. The monumental canvas 3.8 m high and 4.5 m wide had already been restored several times and repaired after the knife attack of an imbalance in 1975. The installation of this ingenious display case allows the museum to do not deprive visitors of a crucial work during the entire time of this renovation.
Its restaurant is awarded by the Michelin Guide
What if we came to the museum just for lunch? Opened in 2014 in the Philips wing, the Rijks Restaurant is a large brasserie with a garden run by chef Joris Bijdendijk.
The young prodigy, already starred and passed by the show Top chef (season 4), delivers here all his creativity and his love of the land through colorful dishes, mixing local traditions and flavors from around the world. A rare and inventive cuisine which earned it a second star in 2017. The large indoor brasserie is extended by a terrace accessible even in winter.
The Rijksstudio, a fabulous digital catalog
Launched in 2012 just before the reopening, the Rijksstudio is an online platform that provides access to the collection, more than 145,000 images that can be viewed, shared and used. The site offers to download them in high definition but also to order a poster or canvas version of your favorite painting.
Iconographic resources that can also be explored by color or by theme and use for personal purposes. The museum even encourages this use with an annual competition, the “Rijksstudio Award” which rewards the best creation made from this content.
The portraits of Maerten and Oopjen
A unique international collaboration, these two paintings by Rembrandt were purchased with the Louvre in 2020. Made in 1634 for the wedding of the couple Maerten Soolmans and OOpjen Coppit, these life-size portraits decline in shades of gray, white and black, perfectly expressing the sobriety of the characters.
The two museums share the paintings for alternate periods of five years and then eight years. The restoration of the masterpieces carried out in 2017 revealed that the two portraits had been painted simultaneously on the same canvas.
Convenient
From € 19 adult entry, free for children under 18.
The Rijksmuseum is open every day of the year from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
To visit the Rijksmuseum, it is necessary to reserve a starting time slot:
- This applies to everyone, including holders of the Friends of the Rijksmuseum or Museumkaart card.
- The start time slot is the start time of your visit.
- You can then stay as long as you want.
A maximum of 6 tickets can be purchased per booking. You book your tickets and a starting time slot here
Rijksmuseum, Museumstraat 1, 1071 XX Amsterdam. Tel. : +31 20 6747 000.
The Rijks restaurant is open from 11:30 am to 10 pm. Closed Sunday evening.
Museumstraat 2, Amsterdam. Tel : +31 20 67 47 55. rijksrestaurant.nl
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