LLEI D'ART 10

architectural Heritage Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum or National Museum in Amsterdam, a true cathedral of Dutch art, has been in its home for over 125 years. The current building –constructed in a neo-gothic style scattered with Catholic touches– was designed by the Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers and inaugurated in March 1885. The museum houses 800 years of art connected to the history of the Netherlands, and was privatised in 1995. During the 1950s, the 19th-century building underwent a se- ries of reconstructions –with the aim of expanding the internal space available for storage– which serious affected the aes- thetic of the museum’s 80 rooms, as well as the magnificent in- ternal courtyards, blocking up windows and closing accesses. As such, Cuypers’s original project gradually lost the attention it paid to light and came to acquire something of a labyrinthine darkness. Beautifully contextualised within the historical environment of a city that has more museums than any other in Europe, the wonderful building occupies a special place on Museumplein, Amsterdam’s Museum Square, near the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. In fact, the whole build- ing rises like a monumental gate, providing access to this mag- ical city of canals and bridges, a place constructed literally on top of the river Amstel using efficient engineering know-how via a system of dykes and a clever network of canals, whose main function is to control the water and to use it most efficently. A large part of the city is in fact below the level of the North Sea, which goes some way to explaining the problem faced by the architects to create new underground spaces during their refurbishment. The building’s façade is a curious mix of charm and grandeur –the rooves have regained their original dimen- sions, courtyards have been opened and glassed over, and the wonderfully rich ornamentation of the walls and ceilings has been restored. Likewise, the floors of the courtyards have been replaced. Cruz y Ortiz’s project has created an entrance above a central hall situated underground, destined for public access. As such, the two large wings that make up the building have been elegantly joined. Above this grandiose hall a giant lamp-esque structure has been created using spotlights that, depending on whether it is night or day, creating a play of light that plays with the viewer’s perception. However, the landscape architecture, based on Cuypers’s origi- nal idea, also needs a special mention. The gardens conserve the original statuary, as well as a moden fountain and a 19th century greenhouse which will house a programme to recover species whose cultivation had been relegated to the past. 43