Rijksmuseum is the Dutch national museum in Amsterdam. The museum is a wonderful display of the arts and history of the country.
The paintings and other exhibits are divided into 80 galleries across four floors. Here are a few facts which might be the reason of 2.5 million visiting the museum every year.
Rijksmuseum Facts
The museum was first founded in The Hague in 1800. It was later moved to Amsterdam in 1808 in the Royal Palace.
The current building opened in 1885 for the public. It was designed in a Dutch neo-Renaissance style by the Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers.
The museum is built at the edge of Amsterdam hence it once served as a historical gate into the road. It is the only museum that has a road inside of its building.
The road was open for cars till 1931 and is still open for bicycles. It also has one of the oldest traffic signs in the city.
Since Amsterdam's soil is swampy, most large buildings here are built on wooden piles. The museum has been built on almost 8,000 wooden piles and it still perfectly supports the building.
It is said that there are over a million objects in the museum’s collection. Out of which, only 8,000 are on display.
These million artifacts have been gathered almost hundred years before the museum’s opening in 1885. It would take a week and a 1.5 km walk to check out the whole collection.
The Rijksmuseum Research Library on the second floor of the museum is the largest public art history research library in the country. The best part is that it gives out a free membership and is open to everyone.
The museum was supposed to be renovated for a year in 2003. When they dug the tunnel, water from a nearby canal flooded the museum. This took a prolonged time of a total of 10 years and a much higher restoration cost.
The colorful wall paintings were actually white-washed by the museum director in 1960s. He thought it will distract the visitors from the exhibits. Luckily, they were preserved because of a paint layer. The colors got back after the 2013 renovation.
There’s an armor suit with one leg in the museum. It belonged to Admiral Jacob van Heemskerck who lost his leg and later his life in the Battle of Gibraltar in 1607. He was the first Dutchman to have gotten and official stat funeral.
The famous 1642 painting ‘Night Watch’ by Rembrandt Van Rijn actually misses a few details.
It was moved to the City Hall but it was cut short as it wouldn’t fit on the wall. Hence, two men are missing on the left side.
RIJKS is a nearby restaurant which can accommodate almost 140 people. Joris Bijdendijk has been the chef here since its opening in 2014.
The museum is declared a rijksmonument, national heritage site, since 1970. It also has been listed in the Top 100 Dutch Heritage Sites list in 1990.
People can check out the collection without actually visiting it. Its collection can be checked out online.