Amsterdam isn’t short of brilliant cultural experiences. In fact, it’s spoiled for them, with a good chunk of the Netherlands’ best museums, galleries, and architecture kept within the city limits. Thankfully, Rijksmuseum, the Dutch national gallery, has decided to spread the love and open a brand-new location in the southern city of Eindhoven.
Only a small amount of Rijksmuseum’s immense collection is actually on show to the public. It looks after more than 1 million objects and artworks – including Rembrandts, Vermeers, and paintings dating back to the Middle Ages – but there’s only space for about 80,000 to go on display. That means that at any given time, more than 900,000 expertly preserved artefacts are just sitting in storage, waiting for their moment to shine.
And that moment has finally come – in the form of a brand new, purpose-built museum in the Netherlands’ fifth largest city. It will cover a whopping 3,500 square feet, with multiple exhibition and gallery spaces, and will take between six and eight years to fully construct.
Eindhoven is only 90 minutes away from Amsterdam by car. It’s most famous as a hub for design and technology after Philips – yes, the one that makes toothbrushes and razors – was founded there way back in 1891. Its mayor, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said that being chosen as the home of the new museum is ‘an incredible opportunity’ that the city is ‘seizing [with] both hands to make it a reality as quickly as possible’.
‘This museum is set to become a place where everyone can enjoy a unique blend of history and creativity,’ he added.
A park by the River Dommel has been earmarked for Eindhoven’s Rijksmuseum. It’s near the city’s central train station, so should be easy for visitors from across the country to access, which is exactly why the new outpost is being opened in the first place.
General director Taco Dibbits explained that his team is ‘always seeking new ways to share the collection with people across the Netherlands’, noting that this expansion ‘represents an important step in making the collection even more accessible’.
There are also hopes from some Amsterdam locals that this will drive some traffic away from their city, which is rapidly becoming overcrowded. It’s gotten so bad that residents are working to take legal action against the council for failing to keep tourism under control, and the construction of new hotels and hostels has been completely halted.
Whether this move succeeds at all in easing Amsterdam’s overtourism problem remains to be seen, but it will definitely give art enthusiasts across Europe a brand-new spot to add to their bucket lists.
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