Rijksmuseum

Coordinates: 52°21′36″N 4°53′07″E / 52.36000°N 4.885278°E / 52.36000; 4.885278
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Rijksmuseum
Façade of the Rijksmuseum as seen from the Museum Square
Established31 May 1800[1]
LocationMuseumstraat 1[2]
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Coordinates52°21′36″N 4°53′07″E / 52.36000°N 4.885278°E / 52.36000; 4.885278
TypeNational museum
Art museum
History museum
Collection size1 million objects[3]
Visitors
  • 2.20 million (2016)[4]
  • 2.35 million (2015)[5]
  • 2.47 million (2014)[6]
  • Ranked 1st nationally (2014)[7]
  • Ranked 19th globally (2014)[8]
DirectorTaco Dibbits[9]
PresidentJaap de Hoop Scheffer[9]
Public transit accessTram: 2 Tram line 2, 5 Tram line 5, 7 Tram line 7, 10 Tram line 10, 12 Tram line 12 Bus: 26, 65, 66, 170, 172, 197[2]
Websitewww.rijksmuseum.nl

The Rijksmuseum is a Dutch museum.[10] It is run by the government and focused on the arts and history of Amsterdam. The museum is located in Amsterdam [11]

The Rijksmuseum was opened in The Hague in 1800. It then moved to Amsterdam in 1808. The current main building was designed by Pierre Cuypers and opened in 1885.[3] In 2013 and 2014, it was the most visited museum in the Netherlands. It is also the largest art museum in the country.

The museum has 8,000 items that can be seen by those who go to it. This is out of a total of 1 million items. The collection includes items by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Johannes Vermeer. The museum also has a small collection of Asian items.[3]

History[change | change source]

18th century[change | change source]

Isaac Gogel (1765–1821)

The year 1795 marked the start of the Batavian Republic. One of the members of the new government was Isaac Gogel. He suggested a new national museum, like the French Louvre. On 19 November 1798, the government agreed to the museum.[1][12]

On 31 May 1800, the new museum opened. It was at first known as the National Art Gallery (Dutch: Nationale Kunst-Galerij). It had about 200 paintings and other items. These came from the collections of the Dutch stadtholders.[1][12]

19th century[change | change source]

In 1806, the Kingdom of Holland was established by Napoleon Bonaparte. It replaced the Batavian Republic. In 1808, the museum moved to Amsterdam as ordered by Louis Bonaparte. After the move, more paintings were added. These included The Night Watch by Rembrandt.[1]

In 1863, there was a design contest for a new building for the museum. None of the submissions were selected.[13]

In 1876, a new contest was held and this time Pierre Cuypers won. His design was a mix of gothic and renaissance. The work on the new building start on 1 October 1876. It opened on 13 July 1885.[13][dead link]

In 1890, another building was added a short distance to the south-west of the Rijksmuseum. This one was made out of pieces of demolished buildings. It has since become known as the 'fragment building'. It is also known as the 'south wing' and is currently (in 2013) branded as the Philips Wing.

20th century[change | change source]

Dutch news from 1959

In 1906, the hall for the Night Watch was rebuilt.[13] More changes were made between the 1920s and 1950s. In the 1960s extra rooms and floors were built. Other changes and fixes were done in 1984, 1995–1996 and 2000.[14]

The south wing of the museum was repaired in 1996.[15]

21st century[change | change source]

The atrium after the repairs in 2013

In December 2003, the main building was closed for repair. During these repairs, about 400 items could still be viewed in the south wing. These included Rembrandt's The Night Watch and other 17th-century paintings.[16]

The repairs were completed on 16 July 2012. On 13 April 2013, the main building was opened again.

Building[change | change source]

The main building was designed by Pierre Cuypers and opened in 1885. It has two squares with an atrium in each centre. The Rijksmuseum is a national heritage site since 1970.[17]

Collection[change | change source]

The collection has 1 million items of arts, crafts, and history. These come from the years 1200 to 2000. Around 8000 of these items can be viewed in the museum.[3]

The collection has more than 2,000 paintings from the Dutch Golden Age. Some are from notable painters such as Jacob van Ruisdael, Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer, Jan Steen, Rembrandt, and Rembrandt's students.[3]

The museum also has a small Asian collection.[3]

It also displays the stern of HMS Royal Charles which was captured in the Raid on the Medway, and the Hartog plate.

In 2012,[18] the museum made 125,000 high-resolution images available for download.[19] It plans to add another 40,000 images per year until the entire collection is available.[20][21]

Gallery[change | change source]

Visitors[change | change source]

year visitors   year visitors   year visitors
1975 1,412,000[22] 2000 1,146,438[23] 2010 896,393[24]
2001 1,015,561[23] 2011 1,010,402[24][a]
1992 1,216,103[25][b] 2002 1,100,488[26] 2012 894,058[27]
1993 936,400[25] 2003 833,450[26][c] 2013 2,246,122
1994 1,002,000[28][29][d] 2004 812,102[30] 2014 2,474,352[6]
1995 942,000[29] 2005 842,586[30] 2015 2,345,666[5]
1996 1,275,000[31] 2006 1,142,182[24] 2016 2,200,000 (est.)[4]
1997 1,084,652[32] 2007 969,561[24]
1998 1,229,445[33] 2008 975,977[24]
1999 1,310,497[33] 2009 876,453[24]

Restaurant[change | change source]

Rijks, stylized as RIJKS®, is a restaurant in the Philips Wing.[34] Joris Bijdendijk has been the chef since the opening in 2014.[35] The restaurant was awarded a Michelin star in 2017.[36]

Notes[change | change source]

  1. This includes the 16,777 visitors to the main building.
  2. In 1993, the visitors number had decreased with 23% to 936,400, i.e. there were approximately 1,216,103 visitors in 1992.
  3. The main building was closed from 7 December 2003.
  4. In 1995, the visitor number had decreased with 60,000 to 942,000, i.e. there were approximately 1,002,000 visitors in 1994.

References[change | change source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 History of the Rijksmuseum, Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Address and route, Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 The renovation, Rijksmuseum. Retrieved on 4 April 2013.
  4. 4.0 4.1 (in Dutch) Jasper Piersma, "Van Gogh Museum zit Rijks op de hielen als populairste museum", Het Parool, 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Jaarverslag 2015 (in Dutch), Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Jaarverslag 2014 (in Dutch), Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  7. (in Dutch) Claudia Kammer & Daan van Lent, "Musea trokken dit jaar opnieuw meer bezoekers", NRC Handelsblad, 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2015.
  8. Top 100 Art Museum Attendance, The Art Newspaper, 2015. Retrieved on 18 July 2015.
  9. 9.0 9.1 Board of Directors, Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  10. "The beginning". History of the Rijksmuseum. Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  11. Museumplein Archived 13 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine, I Amsterdam. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  12. 12.0 12.1 (in Dutch) Roelof van Gelder, Schatkamer met veel gezichten, 2000. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Stadhouderskade 42. Rijksmuseum (1876/85)". Monumenten en Archeologie in Amsterdam (in Dutch). City of Amsterdam. Archived from the original on 9 February 2007. Retrieved 1 April 2007.
  14. "Stadhouderskade 42. Rijksmuseum (1876/85). Interieur". Monumenten en Archeologie in Amsterdam (in Dutch). City of Amsterdam. Archived from the original on 2 February 2007. Retrieved 1 April 2007.
  15. A new art: photography in the 19th century. The photo collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, edited by curators Mattie Boom and Hans Rooseboom, preface by Peter Schatborn and Ronald de Leeuw, essays by Jan Piet Filedt Kok, Mattie Boom, Hans Rosenboom, Robbert van Venetie, Hedi Hegeman, Andreas Blühm, Saskia Asser and Annet Zondervan, Rijksmuseum & Van Gogh Museum, 1996, ISBN 9053491937
  16. "Final Design The New Rijksmuseum". The New Rijksmuseum. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. Archived from the original on 19 September 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2007.
  17. (in Dutch) Monumentnummer: 5680 Archived 2014-03-06 at Archive.today, Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed. Retrieved on 6 March 2014.
  18. "Rijksmuseum lanceert Rijksstudio". Creative Commons Nederland (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  19. Rijkstudio promotes and enables the reuse of the Rijksmuseum collection.
  20. Nina Siegal (28 May 2013). "Masterworks for One and All". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  21. Erik Boekesteijn (12 April 2013). TWIL #94: Peter Gorgels (Internet Manager Rijksmuseum) (Video podcast). This Week In Libraries. Amsterdam: Shanachiemedia. Archived from the original on 20 July 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  22. (in Dutch) Openingsjaar Rijksmuseum breek alle records Archived 28 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Rijksmuseum, 2013. Retrieved on 2013-12-27.
  23. 23.0 23.1 (in Dutch) Jaarverslag 2001, Rijksmuseum, 2002. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  24. 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 24.5 (in Dutch) Jaarverslag 2011, Rijksmuseum, 2012. Retrieved on 25 April 2013.
  25. 25.0 25.1 (in Dutch) "Museumbezoek in 1993 sterk gedaald", NRC Handelsblad, 1994. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  26. 26.0 26.1 (in Dutch) Jaarverslag 2003, Rijksmuseum, 2004. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  27. Jaarverslag 2012 (in Dutch), Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  28. (in Dutch) "Nieuwe musea hadden in 1995 een goede start", de Volkskrant, 1996. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  29. 29.0 29.1 (in Dutch) "Grote musea trokken in 1995 minder bezoekers", Trouw, 1996. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  30. 30.0 30.1 (in Dutch) Jaarverslag 2005, Rijksmuseum, 2006. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  31. (in Dutch) Rijksmuseum en Kunsthal trekken veel bezoekers, de Volkskrant, 1997. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  32. (in Dutch) Jaarverslag 1998, Rijksmuseum, 1999. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  33. 33.0 33.1 (in Dutch) Jaarverslag 1999, Rijksmuseum, 2000. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  34. Brooke Bobb, "Go for the Art, Stay for the Food: The 7 Best Museum Restaurants Around the World Archived 2017-01-13 at the Wayback Machine", Vogue, 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  35. "Joris Bijdendijk verantwoordelijk voor nieuwe restaurant Rijksmuseum", Het Parool, 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  36. "Michelinster voor Amsterdamse restaurants Rijks, Bolenius en Mos", Het Parool, 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2017.

Other websites[change | change source]