You can enjoy the last Queen’s Day (for a while)
On April 30, Queen Beatrix will abdicate in favour of her son Willem-Alexander and that will bring an end to Queen’s Day, until there’s a new queen that is. King Willem-Alexander will be the Netherlands’ first king since 1890.
The official abdication and succession of the new king and queen will take place at the Royal Palace. That night, Amsterdam will rock its first ever King’s Night with parties and events! Date for your diaries: in 2014, King’s Day will be marked on April 27, the new king’s birthday.
The Rijksmuseum has reopened after 10 years
The Netherlands’ largest museum has had a jolly new facelift. There are new public facilities, landscaped gardens, and Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch” (pictured below) returns to its original gallery.
In total, 80 halls display 8,000 pieces of art and history spanning the Middle Ages to the 20th century. The cost of seeing all this is €15 for adults but children under the age of 18 get their dose of culture free!
The Van Gogh Museum will reopen on May 1
Happily coinciding with a landmark, er, date for Vincent Van Gogh – the 160th anniversary of his birth – a special exhibition “Van Gogh at Work” will display several of the artist’s most famous paintings to mark the end of a seven-year research project into how he worked.
The Van Gogh Museum houses the world’s largest collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh. Although the Van Gogh is not a quirky museum by any standards, Amsterdam is home to a few more alternative museums as well, which you can read more about in this list of the top 10 quirky museums around the world.
Felix Meritis celebrates its 225th anniversary
What or who is Felix Meritis? The Observatory of Felix Meritis (it means “Happy through Merit” and it opened its doors as a Temple of Enlightenment in 1788) is the country’s oldest scientific observatory and it hasn’t been open to the public in more than 200 years. That changes this month when the observatory will be open to visitors every day bar Sunday.
It’ll be one of the highest vantage points in the city for viewing the canals. And there’ll be a wonderful art installation by the artist Joseph Semah. Amsterdam of Above – Amsterdam of Below will connect the stars with the canals and landmark buildings of the city. Here’s a sneak peek:
(Featured image by Cycletours Holidays)
