Rijksmuseum

The national museum of the Netherlands was built as a cathedral to art, in red brick with towers and Gothic and Renaissance-inspired details. A cycle path runs straight through the building. It is Cuypers’s masterpiece and a symbol of the national style of 19th-century Holland.

For a long time the Netherlands lacked a worthy building for the national collections. After a competition Pierre Cuypers was given the commission, and the museum was built in 1876–1885. Cuypers was a Catholic and had built many churches, and his design was criticised by Protestants who thought the building looked too Catholic. King William III is said to have refused to visit it. The building was placed at what was then the edge of the city, and the passage through it was meant to serve as a gateway into the city.

The museum has a symmetrical plan with two large courtyards and a passage in the middle. The façade is of red brick with details in natural stone and has towers and steep roofs. The style mixes Gothic and Dutch Renaissance, and the façades are decorated with reliefs, tile pictures and statues that tell the story of the country’s art. Inside, the Gallery of Honour leads to the room for Rembrandt’s Night Watch. Cuypers wanted the architecture, the decoration and the collections to form a whole.

During the 20th century the museum was altered many times, and much of the decoration was painted over. A major renovation in 2003–2013, designed by the Spanish architects Cruz y Ortiz, opened up the courtyards with glass roofs and restored much of Cuypers’s decoration. The cycle passage through the building was kept after a long dispute with Amsterdam’s cyclists. Cuypers also designed Amsterdam Central Station, and the two buildings shape the city’s image of the 19th century.