Netherlands’ national museum, the Rijksmuseum, opens to the public after 10-year renovation

AMSTERDAM – The Netherlands’ Queen Beatrix has officially reopened the Rijksmuseum, the country’s national museum, after a 10-year, 375 million euro ($480 million) renovation.

The museum houses the largest collection of treasures from the Netherlands’ cultural history, including works painted by Dutch masters Jan Steen, Johannes Vermeer and Rembrandt van Rijn in the country’s 17th-century Golden Age, when Amsterdam was the hub of a great shipping power.

The renovation by Spanish architectural firm Cruz y Ortiz sought to bring light into the castle-like brick museum, while the museum’s displays were completely redone to modern standards. Only one of the 8,000 works returns to its original display position: Rembrandt’s Night Watch, a huge canvas widely considered his greatest masterpiece.

The museum expects to welcome up to 2 million visitors per year.

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