The Rijksmuseum (National Museum) contains some of the world's greatest works of Dutch art. The building dates from
1885 and was designed by Pierre Cuypers. Its neoGothic facade is something of a mirror image to Cuypers' Centraal Station.
Start on the second floor with rooms 201- 206, which display Dutch works from the 15th and 16th centuries. There are dozens of superb paintings and numerous highlights, such as Frans Hals' supremely cheerful marriage portrait of Isaac Abrahamsz Massa and Beatrix Van der Laen and Johannes Vermeer's The Kitchen Maid, a masterpiece of complementary colors. The sequence ends with the Gallery of Honour, displaying Rembrandt's The Night Watch or, under its original title, The Company of Captain Franz Baning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburcb. Other sections of the Rijksmuseum have dazzling displays of sculpture, Delftware, Meissen porcelain and historic artifacts.
The Museum Quarter's gateway literally, with its pedestrian and bicycle underpass is the 1885 Pierre Cuypers designed Rijksmuseurn. It bears a striking resemblance to Centraal Station, which was designed by the same architect and completed four years later. The museum's style is a mixture of neo Gothic and Dutch Renaissance. Aspects of the former (towers, stained glass windows) elicited criticism from Protestants including the king, who dubbed the building 'the archbishop's palace' (Cuypers was
Catholic, and proudly so in his approach to architecture).
The Rijksmuseum was conceived as a repository for several national collections, including the royal art collection that was first housed in the palace on Dam Square and then in the Trippenhuis on Kloveniersburgwal. It's the country's premier art museum and one that no self respect ing visitor to Amsterdam can afford to miss in fact, 1.2 million visitors flock here each year.
Some 5000 paintings are on display in 200 rooms, and many other works of art, so it pays to be selective if you don't want to spend days here. Grab the free floor plan when you buy your ticket and home in on the areas that interest you most there are five major collections but you'll need the floor plan to find your way around them. The museum shop on the Ist floor sells guidebooks that describe the collections in more detail. Check the Web site at www .rijksmuseum.ni.
The most important collection, Paintings consists of Dutch and/or Flemish masters from the 15th to 19th centuries, with emphasis on the 17th century Golden Age Pride of place is taken by Rembrandt's huge Nightwatch (1650) in room 224 on the Ist floor, showing the militia led by Frans Banningh Cocq, a future mayor of the city the painting only acquired this name in later years because it had become dark with grime (it's nice and clean now). Room 211 shows earlier (and more colourful) works by Rembrandt. Other l7th century Dutch masters on this floor include Jan Vermeer (The Kitchen Maid, also known as The Milkmaid, and Woman in Blue Reading a Letter), Frans Hals (The Merry Drinker) and Jan Steen (The Merry Family).
The museum's other collections are
Sculpture & Applied Art (delftware, beauti
ful dolls' houses, porcelain, furniture),
Dutch History (the Amsterdams Historisch
Museum and Nederlands Scheepvaartmu
seum do this better), Asiatic Art (including
the famous 12th century Dancing Shiva),
and finally the Print Room, with changing
exhibitions that can be surprisingly inter
esting depending on which of the 800,000
prints and drawings are on display when you visit.
