Het Nieuwe Rijksmuseum – The New Rijksmuseum

Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum holds one of the most important collection of masterworks by Flemish masters. Among these is the celebrated Night Watch, painted by Rembrandt in 1642. It also holds a large collection of Asian art. The historic building by Pierre Cuypers which has housed the Rijksmuseum since 1885, is at the centre of an important redevelopment project by architects Cruz and Ortiz, the creators of the Spanish Pavilion at the Hanover 2000 World Expo and of several important works in Seville’s historic centre. The ideas proposed for the building, by the world famous architects, are hotly debated and have become controversial, notwithstanding the fact that they are the very same for which the firm was chosen. The project has been attacked and held hostage by the cyclists’ association and, after undergoing the scrutiny of several different commissions, it has been substantially modified. The completion date keeps sliding forward. It has been finally re-opened in Spring 2013. In this documentary, the Rijksmuseum redevelopment becomes a contemporary, emblematic symbol of the difficult but passionate transition towards the ‘new’.