Amsterdam Museum renovation will not be completed until 2027 at the earliest
The renovation of the Amsterdam Museum became a similar display to a ‘gift for the city’, to be unwrapped on October 27, 2025, the 750th anniversary of Amsterdam and the 50th anniversary of the museum. because of the necessary delay, museum director Judikje Kiers was already more cautious in September last year. “I no longer dare to say that it will all be finished in 2025,” she agreed.
The jubilee year is now definitely out of sight. Until this Wednesday, November 11, 2026 was the new announced opening date. But one by the museum lost card lawsuit, initiated by heritage association Heemschut and the Association of Friends of the Amsterdam City Center (VVAB), also makes 2026 unfeasible. The judge prohibits the demolition work with which the museum could start as soon as possible, pending the substantive proceedings that the two heritage clubs have already initiated. Such a regular intake takes a long time. as a result, the renovation will not be completed until 2027 at the earliest.
Each month the municipality as owner costs 260,000 euros. To damage the state of the main proceedings now scheduled for early April.
Neighborhoods for new construction
The run-up to the renovation has been going on for seven years, while according to the museum management it is urgently needed. The building is in poor condition: the installations are outdated, with leaks and the risk of short circuits and fire. The building is also poorly accessible and rather a maze with various corridors, stairs and small exhibition rooms.
The fact that the renovation can still not start is partly the result of radical criticism from, among others, the Welfare and Monuments Committee of Amsterdam, which have adjusted the plans of the monumental Burgerweeshuis, which is mainly a museum.
For example, the architects actually wanted to create a large veranda with a viewpoint over the city, and the winning wall with facing bricks on the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal side would have to make way for new construction. There would also be large display cases on the street side with ‘Amsterdam Museum’ in large letters on the facade: everything to attract passers-by to the now so hidden museum.
All those major interventions failed (one of the display cases is still there), so the museum has already had to compromise considerably. Nevertheless, director Kiers was still hiding this fall with the plans: “We will leave the courtyards open, not covered, so that you also have an oasis in the city center, with an uncertain story for Amsterdammers and visitors from outside.”
Deadly sin
The museum had wanted to start this month with the sloop of the Schuttersgalerie – a long corridor that was built in 1975 between the historic Boys’ and Girls’ Houses. That would be a shame, says Gerrit Vermeer, who has just left the University of Amsterdam as an architectural historian and specializes in Amsterdam heritage. The gallery is located exactly on the spot of the Begijnensloot, while the boys are separated from the girls in the orphanage.
“The Schuttersgalerie makes the underlying structure very visible. If you walk through it, you will see: this used to be a ditch. There is some haggling, especially on the material side of this building, but it is still very important to preserve from an urban development perspective. It would be a great shame if this were to disappear.”
81.9 million
The museum is owned by the municipality, which bears the bulk of the costs. The total budget amounted to 81.9 million euros; the municipality pays almost 66 million. A lot of money to spend in these tough economic times, says CDA council member Diederik Boomsma.
“I am aware of renovations, to make the building more accessible, to enlarge the space more and better and the like, although I would also have small wishes in the very thorough plans. But the amounts involved are huge, while the municipality has to cut costs everywhere and scrutinize all investments.”
Boomsma recently advocated the demolition of the renovation in the municipality. But he received no support. When the previous city council reserved millions for the renovation in 2018, there was no significant discussion. There is a political consensus that the charming, but not very public-friendly, should be transformed into an accessible, light and spacious museum.
Mega job
Barely ten years ago, the museum was also renovated, a ‘mega job’ said the then director. Roughly a third of the former orphanage and convent was renovated for 5.5 million euros. Even then, the starting point was that it would become more public-friendly and a central meeting place.
The part was disappointing, as can be deduced from the advice of the Amsterdam Art Council in 2014. There was a description of moving the entire museum to a building where the collection would do better justice. Soon after her performance in 2016, director Kiers came up with the proposal to stay, but in an interrupted modernized building. “We thought it was important to keep the beating heart of the museum in the city center,” she said earlier in Het Parool.
Bedroomed location
Everyone agrees that the Amsterdam Museum belongs in the city center and that the Burgerweeshuis is the ideal location. The discussion is mainly about whether the monument should adapt to the modern requirements of a museum. For example, the Civic Guards Gallery would have to make way to create a number of large museum rooms where large 17th-century group portraits are displayed.
“There are no such spaces in the Burgerweeshuis at all, so this building is actually completely unsuitable for certain ambitions,” says architectural historian Vermeer. “I don’t understand why they don’t just leave those paintings in the Hermitage, where they are now temporarily. Then you don’t need those large halls at all.”
Another tricky point is the visibility of the museum will be achieved with the renovation, so that passers-by will no longer pass by carelessly. “This is a small part of the medieval city. First it was a monastery, then an orphanage – by definition very secluded places. This building therefore has very different requirements than the qualities that are present. Then you have no choice but to work rigorously and thoroughly, and to modify the building heavily and for a lot of money.
Now the plans are on hold, at least until spring. In preliminary relief proceedings, the judge did not want to anticipate the proceedings on the merits, but she did comment on the museum’s assurance that the monumental value of the building will be left intact ‘as far as possible’.
Whether the hypothesis will turn out better for the museum management in April is therefore the question.