Rijksmuseum

The Night Watch (1642) is not being restored in a back room while visitors see a replica in the gallery. Since 2019, Operation Night Watch has been conducted in full public view inside the Gallery of Honour, with a glass conservation studio built around the painting so that visitors can watch conservators working on it from a few metres away. The restoration is ongoing and the painting is there, in its gallery, with its conservation team. This is the best possible reason to visit the Rijksmuseum right now rather than any other time.

The Collection

The museum holds roughly 8,000 works on permanent display across 80 galleries, primarily Dutch and Flemish art from the 15th through 19th centuries. The Dutch Golden Age is the core: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Frans Hals, Jan Steen. Vermeer’s The Milkmaid is a small canvas that rewards standing in front of it longer than most visitors manage; the contrast between it and the monumental Night Watch is one of the museum’s defining tensions.

The applied arts galleries on the ground floor are underattended and excellent. Dutch Delftware, 17th-century silver, and a reconstructed Golden Age merchant’s bedroom give texture to the paintings upstairs. The scale model of a Dutch East India Company frigate is one of the more elaborate craft objects in any European museum.

Timing

Timed entry is mandatory; book online at rijksmuseum.nl. The first two hours after 9am opening are noticeably less crowded. Friday evenings (open until 10pm) are reliably quiet. Avoid the week around King’s Day (late April) and the Christmas-New Year period. First Sundays of each month are free entry and consequently very busy.

Getting There

Trams 2, 5, and 12 stop near Museumplein. From Centraal Station, 15 to 20 minutes by tram. Cycling is the Amsterdam default; bike parking is extensive outside the museum.

Nearby

The Van Gogh Museum is directly across Museumplein and requires advance booking as it sells out faster than the Rijksmuseum. The Stedelijk, also on the square, covers modern and contemporary art and design including strong De Stijl holdings; less famous, less crowded, worth the visit.

Eating

The Rijks restaurant inside has a Michelin star and books weeks ahead. The ground-floor cafe is fine for coffee and lighter food. Cafe Wildschut on Roelof Hartplein, ten minutes’ walk, is an Art Deco brown cafe with Dutch bar food in a space that feels nothing like a tourist restaurant.