AMSTERDAM: Fireworks and fanfare accompanied Dutch Queen Beatrix as she yesterday reopened Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum treasure trove of Golden Age masterpieces after a 10-year renovation.
The reopening is Beatrix’s last major public appearance before she abdicates in favour of her son Willem-Alexander on April 30, and performers from around the Netherlands and its overseas territories took part in the ceremony.
After the queen turned a key in a symbolic lock on a vast orange carpet at midday, a long queue immediately formed of people wanting to visit the world-famous museum, open for free until midnight.
The museum, built in 1885 for 200,000 annual visitors, now hopes to double the one million people that it was hosting prior to the renovation.
Queen Beatrix, 75, was given a tour of the renewed museum by director Wim Pijbes.
The ¤375m revamp, masterminded by Spanish architects Cruz y Ortiz, has run over time and over budget but has been hailed by observers.
AFP
