t The modern exterior of the Van Gogh Museum
t The modern exterior of the Van Gogh Museum
Experience Museum Quarter
Until the late 1800s, this land was little more than farms and smallholdings, until the city council designated it an area of art and culture. It was decided that it would be the new home of the ever-expanding Rijksmuseum, whose growing collection was split between the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam, the Mauritshuis in Den Haag and a gallery in Haarlem at the time. A design competition for the Rijksmuseum was held in 1876 and the building was completed in 1885. Further development of the area was driven by the International Colonial and Export Exhibition of 1883. By 1895 the Museumplein was home to Amsterdam’s great cultural monuments: the Rijksmuseum, the Stedelijk Museum and the Concertgebouw. The Van Gogh Museum followed in 1973, its striking extension added in 1999.
The area fast became a central space in the city and was used for national celebrations and commemorations. The Museumplein has two memorials to the victims of World War II. The park is still used as a site for political demonstrations as it is seen as the spiritual home of freethinkers in the city. To the north and south are turn-of-the-century houses, where the streets are named after artists and intellectuals, such as the 17th-century poet Roemer Visscher.