The main program of our last day in Amsterdam was the world-famous Rijksmuseum where we saw the most famous paintings, including my personal favorite, The Night Watch
We had to wait for our daughter all the time because she lingered in front of each work with incredible patience and for a long time while she was completely lost in the details and the world of colors
The history of the Rijksmuseum began at the very end of the eighteenth century when the National Gallery of Art opened in The Hague in 1800, but a few years later the collection was moved to the Royal Palace in Amsterdam by order of Napoleon’s brother King Louis. The monumental neo-Gothic and neo-Renaissance style building that can still be seen today was designed by Pierre Cuypers and opened its doors in 1885 to provide a worthy home for the national treasures of the Netherlands
The museum’s collection provides an impressive cross-section of the development of Dutch art and history from the Middle Ages to the modern era, preserving more than a million objects within its walls. Visitors here not only can you admire masterpieces of painting but also lavish dollhouses, period ship models and rare historical relics such as the Dirck Hartog plate, which is one of the earliest evidences of the presence of Europeans in Australia
The Dirck Hartog Plate is one of the most extraordinary objects in the Rijksmuseum’s collection, as this flat pewter vessel is one of the earliest and most important pieces of evidence of the European discovery of the Australian continent. The Dutch navigator landed on the west coast of Australia in 1616 on the ship Eendracht and left behind an inscribed plate nailed to a wooden post to commemorate his visit, recording the exact date of his arrival and the names of the most important members of his crew.
This humble-looking but significant historical relic lay untouched on the deserted beach for more than eighty years before another Dutch explorer, Willem de Vlamingh, came across it in 1697. Recognizing the priceless value of the object, Vlamingh took the original plate with him to Amsterdam and left behind a new pewter vessel in its place, with his own inscription. The original piece, preserved in the Rijksmuseum, still reminds visitors of the daring of Dutch sailors and the golden age of world trade with its clearly legible letters.
The absolute focus of the collection is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, where the works of Rembrandt Vermeer and Frans Hals attract the most attention from all over the world. A special place has been created for The Night Watch at the end of the gallery, where with its monumental dimensions and dramatic use of light, this painting dominates the entire space and makes every visitor stop involuntarily.
