Rijksmuseum

Rijksmuseum

Most famous museum of the Netherlands and located in Amsterdam on the Museumsquare is the Dutch national museum: Rijksmuseum. On the 13^th of April 2013, the Rijksmuseum is completely renovated after 10 years of hard work and will be open to the public again.  The Rijksmuseum offers a great collection of Dutch art and history as well as European and Asian art. Not to mention the great interior design of the building, wonderful exhibitions and great events organized by the national institute.

It all started in The Hague. Around 1800 the museum was founded under the name ‘the national art gallery’ (‘Nationale kunst galerij’). Inspired by the French, the government opened the doors of a national museum showing around 200 paintings and historical objects. Once the city of Amsterdam became capital of the Netherlands (1808), Napoleon decided to move the whole collection to Amsterdam and placed it on the top floor of the Royal Palace at Dam square. In times of King Willem the 1^st, some of the works moved back to The Hague, unfortunately some were assigned to other galleries and some stayed in Amsterdam at the ‘Trippenhuis’. But this building seemed not suitable enough to function as a national museum. Once the design for the Rijksmuseum was drawn by Pierre Cuypers and eventually established, many artworks came back to Amsterdam and were added to the collection again. The current building was put into use and opened in 1885. Through the years, the museum continued to grow. More rooms were built and courtyards were renovated to create more space. Nowadays the museum has been restoring the interior design works of Cuypers and is becoming a modernized museum for the 21^st century visitors.

The Rijksmuseum counts around a million permanent piece works. The museum presents the most amazing paintings from the Golden Age. Amongst other things, paintings of the famous Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Frans Hals and Jan Steen are shown. And it has some Asian art in its collection. The collection is immense with countless artists and painters, works in all different styles and various subjects.

Apart from the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions, the Rijksmuseum offers much more. You can choose from 3 different audio tours guiding you through the museum. This includes lovely audio tours for children. There is even a fourth audio tour (‘Sesamstreet’) for small children, unfortunately only Dutch spoken. At the information desk, you can also pick up a nice ‘treasure trail’ (free of charge) to enjoy with the family. The museum also offers a real children’s guide. Or you can really bring it to life by doing the Rijksmuseum canal cruise. The cruise leads you through the Amsterdam canals. The tour brings you back to the Golden Age and becomes a real experience with all the information giving along the historical locations. It is a combination ticket and includes access to the Rijksmuseum as well. Furthermore the Rijksmuseum has several shops, a large history library, a print room and study room. The Rijksmuseum also has a special ‘Atelier’ building, where preservation, restoration and research are done. The museum even put a large part of the collection online. They are still working on this virtual library for further development. To be real creative; you can start your own ‘Rijksstudio’ online.

 Admission tickets & discounts:
Adults EUR 17,50 – Children 0-18 FREE
CJP/ ING card: EUR 8.75
TICKETS    

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