Easter In Amsterdam

Easter in the Netherlands is pretty much the same as the United States. They have painted eggs, chocolate eggs, Easter egg hunts and Easter baskets, all courtesy of a giant egg-laying rabbit, Passhass. The biggest difference I noticed was how official everything is. Easter in the United States is not a public holiday, mostly because it always falls on a Sunday, when banks and government buildings are closed anyway. In the Netherlands, both Easter Sunday and Monday are national holidays.

I was warned that the big tourist sights would be too crowded during Easter. I have already been to most of them. This trip is about exploring new things. There was a special performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion at the Concertgebouw, but both shows were sold out before I knew about it.

I spent the day at the Rijksmuseum. That is nothing new, but the current exhibit is. Since 2019 is the “Year of Rembrandt”, the Rijksmuseum has a special exhibition of every Rembrandt piece in their collection, which is supposed to be the largest in the world. They usually only have a fraction of his work on display. Since Rembrandt is my favorite artist, this was a wonderful surprise. I have seen the museum's limited exhibits on previous visits, and the etchings at the Rembrandthuis, but this was more than 400 of his best paintings, drawings and prints.

When the exhibition is over, the museum will restore The Night Watch, but keep it on display at the same time. The plan is to surround the work area with a large glass cage so the public can watch the restoration in progress. I'm glad they are restoring the painting, but I am even happier that I got to see it without a glass cage. I don't know how long it will take to restore, but I am more than willing to come back when everything is done.

Rijksmuseum from Museumplein

Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq
pre-restoration