Rijksmuseum, National museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Rijksmuseum is an art and history museum in Amsterdam that holds paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints and decorative arts spanning eight centuries of Dutch culture. The collection, numbering around one million pieces, occupies a red brick building in neo-Gothic style with towers and courtyards.
The museum was founded in The Hague on 19 November 1798 and opened there as the National Art Gallery on 31 May 1800 in Huis ten Bosch. Louis Bonaparte ordered its move to Amsterdam in 1808, where it occupied the Royal Palace from 1809 and the Trippenhuis from 1817. Pierre Cuypers's new building opened on 13 July 1885; after a renovation costing €375 million, Queen Beatrix reopened it on 13 April 2013.
Visitors walk through rooms displaying Dutch Golden Age paintings alongside Delft ceramics and silver household items that once belonged to prosperous merchant families. The collection shows how art and everyday objects reflected the taste and wealth of seventeenth-century Dutch society.
Audio guides are available in several languages, and families can join special tours designed for children. Digital apps help visitors navigate the many rooms and locate specific works.
The museum library holds over 450,000 books and manuscripts on art history, the largest such collection in the Netherlands. Researchers and interested visitors can request access to rare auction catalogs, historical art journals and early exhibition records.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,447 contributors worldwide.
