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Rembrandt’s ‘The Night Watch’ is to the Rijksmuseum what the ‘Mona Lisa’ is to the Louvre: the headline attraction around which pretty much everything else revolves. It’s considered a masterpiece for a reason, y’know?
With cultural institutions now no-go zones the world over, virtual museum tours are where it’s at if you want your fill of classic art. So it’s no surprise Amsterdam’s biggest museum has joined in the party with a new interactive platform that aims to bring its usually bustling Gallery of Honour – home to ‘The Night Watch’ and other big guns of the Dutch Golden Age – into every living room in the world.
The excellent ‘Rijksmuseum Masterpieces Up Close’ is designed to recreate the awe-inducing experience of browsing the imposing central gallery (where you’ll also find Rembrandt’s ‘The Jewish Bride’ and ‘The Milkmaid’ by Vermeer). Visitors can ‘walk’ through at their own pace, zooming in on tiny details and listening to stories about 18 Dutch masterpieces along the way.
And if you’re really taken by Rembrandt’s magnum opus, you can head over to another interactive website that the museum and Dutch broadcaster NTR have dedicated to it, or follow the progress of one of the most ambitious restoration projects of all time on ‘Operation Night Watch’.
Frankly, you’ll probably come away much more knowledgeable than if you went to see it IRL. Some consolation…
More things to do at home?