AMSTERDAM.- After having welcomed its one millionth visitor in August, the Rijksmuseum received its two millionth visitor on 3 December. Netta Maman and Verdit Aftabi, two young tourists from Israel, visited the Rijksmuseum on the last day of their holidays. ‘We heard that after the renovation the Rijksmuseum is a must-see, so we decided to come immediately!’ said Netta. She and her friend were welcomed by General Director Wim Pijbes and Sales Manager Nikki Smeets with flowers and a goody bag full of items from the museum shop.

Since the official opening by the former Queen Beatrix on 13 April of this year, visitor numbers are still between 7,000 and 10,000 a day. In general, the peak times to visit are at the weekend and between 11:00 and 15:00. Really gratifying is the fact that for the first time in years, the number of Dutch visitors exceeds the number of foreign visitors.

Over a quarter of the visitors used an e-ticket, which, by international museum standards, is also an unprecedented number. The new website is enjoying huge numbers of visitors as well. The innovative Rijksstudio section, where visitors can digitally create something themselves using the Rijksmuseum’s 150,000 works of art, has now led to over 110,000 Rijksstudio accounts being created. In November the Rijksmuseum launched a design competition to make and submit your own masterpiece using artworks from the Rijksstudio.

The Rijksmuseum is open 365 days a year, from 9:00 to 17:00. You can visit the Rijksmuseum gardens every day until 18:00, free of charge.