Hermitage Amsterdam
History of the project

In the early 1990s Professor Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, was considering the possibility of having satellites of the museum in the West. The Nieuwe Kerk and the Hermitage had already established a strong relationship through the organisation of major exhibitions, and Ernst Veen, director of the Nieuwe Kerk, suggested that Amsterdam would be the ideal location for a branch of the Russian museum, given the historical links between the two cities over the past 300 years.

At the same time the Amstelhof nursing home decided that its building no longer met modern nursing standards. The United Amstel Houses Foundation (an umbrella organisation of 23 institutions in the Amsterdam region), to which the Amstelhof belongs, decided to build a new nursing home and to make the Amstelhof available for cultural purposes.

In 1988 Ernst Veen was awarded a prize for economic development in Amsterdam, the IJ Prize, and the money that came with it was used to fund a feasibility study for a Hermitage branch in Amsterdam. The results of this study proved favourable so the Stichting Hermitage aan de Amstel was founded. Because the Amstelhof was destined to become the Hermitage Amsterdam museum (expected to open in late 2008), the Reformed Congregation transferred the property to the City of Amsterdam in 1999.

A part of the complex, the Neerlandia building on Nieuwe Herengracht, was already offered to the Hermitage Amsterdam in 2000 because it was regarded as unsuitable for nursing care. It was decided to open the first phase in this building at the end of February 2004 with small exhibitions and a small educational element, the two cornerstones of the Hermitage Amsterdam. In eighteen months no less than 300,000 visitors came to the first three exhibitions, 'Greek gold', 'Nicholas & Alexandra, the last Tsar and Tsarina,' and 'Venezia!' in the Neerlandia building.

By the end of 2008 the Hermitage Amsterdam will be making use of the whole of the Amstelhof and will have a building ten times the size of the present accommodation. In December 2004 the architecture office of Hans van Heeswijk was chosen to design the second phase of the Hermitage Amsterdam. In mid-October 2005 Merkx + Girod were selected as the interior architects. Both have been asked to make the 17th-century Amstelhof on the River Amstel suitable to house the entire Hermitage Amsterdam.

History of the building
(based on an article by Bob van den Boogert in 'Binnenstad')

The Amstelhof building is one of the finest examples of monumental classicist architecture in Amsterdam. It was built in 1681-1683 as a home for the elderly in need of care (initially only for women, but for men too from 1719) and has remained in use as a nursing home to this day.

After the Reformed Congregation had built an orphanage on Zwanenburgwal in 1656, the city government gave it a large piece of land on which to build a home for old women. The site was bounded by the River Amstel, Nieuwe Herengracht, Weesperstraat and Nieuwe Keizersgracht. Thanks to a substantial legacy, it proved possible to complete the monumental building on the Amstel in less than two years. It was probably designed by the city architect Hans Petersom and comprised a basement, two floors and an attic and is laid out as a square around a spacious courtyard that was originally intended to be a bleaching ground. This is flanked by two narrow courtyards which were covered over and built on in the 19th century, a situation that was made permanent during major renovations in the 1970s.

The two stone gates in the façade were once the entrances to the complex. The decorated door with steps in the middle of the façade has a purely aesthetic function. It opened on to the middle of the dining room or chapel directly behind the façade. In the 18th century a pulpit was even placed in front of this door to conceal it. Parts of the old interior survive only in the basement, among them the 18th-century kitchen (restored in 1979) with a deep fireplace and gigantic cooking pots with brick surrounds in which the food for about 700 residents was prepared.

After various renovations in the 19th and 20th centuries, little is left of the original interior layout of the Amstelhof. At the time it was revolutionary: the old ladies were housed in rooms for four instead of in the normal dormitories, a great improvement in privacy and hygiene. The men had to make do with a dormitory; it was located in the basement at the back of the complex and was known tellingly as 'the pit'.

To offer married couples accommodation, the Reformed Congregation built the stately Corvershof on Nieuwe Herengracht in 1723 (it has recently been beautifully restored). Because of a shortage of space, in 1888 an extension was added to this facility between Corvershof and Amstelhof, the Neerlandia building at 14 Nieuwe Herengracht. The 1888 building has been completely stripped on the inside and refurbished for its new use as a museum. This first phase of the Hermitage Amsterdam was designed by Hubert Jan Henket and Wim Crouwel.

Funding

The financing of the renovation costs of the whole project, ¤39 million, has been secured. The BankGiro Loterij, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Province of North Holland, the City of Amsterdam and the W.E. Jansen Fund have made available the amount required. The first phase, the Neerlandia building, cost 10% of the total amount, nearly ¤4 million. The operating costs will be covered for 50% by income from ticket sales and for 50% by income from sponsorship.

For more information:

HERMITAGE AMSTERDAM
Department of Communication, Education & Marketing
Noepy Testa and Charlotte Oster
T: 020-530 87 55
F: 020-530 87 50
M: pressoffice@hermitage.nl
W: www.hermitage.nl