Transformations of the Rijksmuseum

Abstract

‘A New Building inside the Walls of the Old One’ Some 50 years ago, after the renovation of the Rijksmuseum had been completed, managing director Arthur van Schendel triumphantly commented: In the summer of 1962, the Rijksmuseum became the focus of attention when it opened its complex of 30 new galleries and an auditorium with almost 400 seats, a new building inside the walls of the old. This was not the end of the process, but it was a high point in a long series of activities undertaken since the liberation of the Netherlands to create a fitting, modern accommodation that does justice to the country’s world-famous art collection. Later, architecture critic Max van Rooy called this renovation ‘an assault of the most violent nature’ on the building. The new intervention by Cruz y Ortiz arquitectos has wiped away almost every trace of these post-war-era modifications. In the years separating Pierre Cuypers from Cruz y Ortiz, the Rijksmuseum underwent alterations inspired by various motives and concepts. There were a few recurring themes: the central passageway, the grandeur of the building’s backbone (the Great Hall, Gallery of Honour and Night Watch Gallery), the confusing walking routes, the continual shortage of space, and the question of what to do with Cuypers’ decorations. These were also the major themes in Hans Ruijssenaars’s master plan (from 1996), which formed the backdrop to the recent renovation.