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The Rijksmuseum reopens after a decade-long restoration.

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands is in charge of carrying out the official inauguration of this remodeling.

The Dutch National Museum, which owns the most famous collection of paintings from the Dutch Golden Century, as well as a rich collection of Asian and Egyptian art, presents its new spaces designed by the Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos studio.

From 2003 until 2012 has undergone extensive restoration and renovation work under the direction of the Seville architects, winners of a failed international competition in 2001.

The reform project was involved in some controversy because numerous cyclists in the city denounced obstacles in the pedestrian crossing that used to cross, and that divided the museum in two by means of an arch, reason why they had to modify the original project.

Finally, with a solution agreed in 2009, the main access to the museum is through the large gallery where pedestrians and cyclists can be: the latter circulate on the surface, while visitors descend into the hall located on an underground level.

The project creates a new and unique entrance, as well as a large central hall located in the subsoil, under the pedestrian passage of free access. This new enclosure allows a better union of the two wings of the building, and is realized by means of a giant lamp in the form of cage which, during the day, allows a great natural illumination of the enclosure, and at night projects lights towards a superior window, visible from the pedestrian crossing.

The reform of the building also includes the recovery of many of the old interior decorations, previously covered with successive layers of paint.