The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Posted On November 27, 2009
The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam or Rijksmuseum which is a State Museum is commonly known as Dutch national museum is located in Amsterdam, on the Museumplein. The museum is has various sections which are dedicated to the crafts, arts as well as history. It has a huge collection of paintings which belongs to the Dutch Golden Age you will also find a good amount of collection of the Asian art.
Founded in 1800 the museum has a huge collection of Dutch Stadtholders which is kept in display in The Hague. It was very much inspired by the French. Later it was named as the National art gallery. King Louis Bonaparte had ordered to displace the existing museum and move it to Amsterdam. King Louis Bonaparte was the brother of the very famous Napolean Bonaparte. The city owned the paintings of the museum. The painting of Rembrandth named the night watch was the part of the extensive museum collection.
A competition to design the new construction of the building was arranged in the year 1863. The submissions that were made in the competition were not up to the mark and thus all was disqualified. One of the participants named Pierre Cuypers did reach the second position in the competition. Later in year 1876 again a new competition was been taken and to everybody’s surprise Pierre Cuypers did won the competition. The design presented by Pierre Cuypers was a combination of renaissance and gothic elements. In 1876 the construction of the museum started on October 1. The exteriors as well as interiors of the museum was been decorated with various references from the dutch art history.
Later another competition was been taken to given the responsibility of the decorations of the museum. This time the winners of the competition were J.F.Vermeylen and B.van Hove for the sculptures. For the tile tableaus G Sturm was been selected. W.F.Dixon was selected for the stained glass section. On July 13, 1885 the museum was re opened on its new location.
In year 1890 a small building was constructed to the Rijksmuseum. This building was with the help of the left over material of the old building. The old and the new building together gave a view of the Dutch art culture; the hall which was specially meant for The Night Watch was rebuilt in 1906. More changes in the interior were made during 1920 and 1950. The decorations that were multi colored were painted again. In 1960 two yards were constructed which did consist of several floors and the exposition rooms.
Minor restoration and renovation were done in 1984 later in 1995-96 also in 2000. Restoration and renovation of the building is been decided to be done from 2003 and will last till 2013 and the responsibility for the same is given to the Spanish architect Antonia Ortiz as well as Antonio Cruz. The old flooring in the courtyard is decided to be removed also the interior colorful decoration is going to be restored. After the renovation and the restoration process only 400 out of the 1 million pieces would be kept in the display, in a small building called Philips Wing.
To reach the museum you can take a cab or car from the Amsterdam airport which is the nearest located airport.
