Hermitage Amsterdam

The evening of the opening of Amsterdam’s Hermitage Museum, 20 June 2009. The public awaits two Russian dancers of the National Ballet who will soon perform a ballet choreographed by Hans van Manen especially for this occasion. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Russia’s president Medvedev are in attendance at the new museum’s official opening. Red, white and blue fan out over the evening sky, the colours of both the Dutch and Russian flags. Our vantage point is the open window of a canal house on the opposite bank of the River Amstel, offering us an unrivalled view of this striking classicist building. In 1680 a rich merchant left all his money to the church, which used it to build a home here for the “old dears” of the city, as women over fifty were known in those days. Later men were permitted to live there too, and for over three centuries it was a place where the elderly of the city discussed the happenings of the day. Now the muses have their say.