Have you heard about the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands? Do you want to know about its history? Below shared is a brief history of the Rijksmuseum along with its highlights. Read ahead to find why the museum became the favorite tourist destination of many.
The Rijksmuseum
Rijksmuseum is a Dutch national museum of Amsterdam which houses 1,000,000 pieces of artworks, documents and other objects related to the Dutch history. It was originally known as the Royal museum and was designed by the architect Pierre Cuypers. It has existed since 1800 as an institute in the Hague and was relocated to Dutch capital after the inauguration.
In 1795, the Dutch government constructed another museum to preserve their national heritage around the Louvre. At the same time, the institute at the Hague which is known as Nationale – Kunst Gallerji exhibits 200 pieces of artworks which are owned by the wealthy Dutch citizens. Due to the political developments and issues, the collection of the museum was moved between the institute at the Hague and museum at Amsterdam.
Later a museum to permanently house the collection was built at Amsterdam by the Dutch government. Following this decision, two design competitions were held for the museum. The first competition was a failure, but the famous architect Pierre Cuypers won the second design competition which was used for the construction of the building.
In 1885, the construction of Rijksmuseum was completed and opened to the public. Later the museum was split into two departments named as Sculpture & Applied Arts department, and Dutch History department. After a few years, these two sections were shifted to separate regions of the building. The Asian Art department was then added to accommodate the artwork collection received from the Association of Friends of Asian Art.
Rijksmuseum reflects the older Dutch golden age architecture that combines Gothic and Renaissance styles. The highlights of Rijksmuseum includes ‘The Night Watch’ by Rembrandt van Rijn, ‘The Milkmaid’ by Johannes Vermeer, ‘Self-Portrait’ by Vincent Van Gogh, ‘Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters’ by Hendrick Avercamp, ‘Worship of the Golden Calf’ by Lucas van Leyden, ‘Morning Ride Along the Beach’ by Anton Mauve etc.
Without affecting Cuypers’ original interior designs, the Rijksmuseum building was now modernized. If you are an art lover, then you will need at least 4 or 5 hours to explore the whole museum. Rijksmuseum will be a good destination for people who wish to learn more about Dutch history.