Hermitage Amsterdam Oficially Opened By Beatrix and Medvedev

  June 21, 2009 at 7:59 am by

View the image at parool.nl

View the image at parool.nl

As mentioned in previous blog entries, Russian president Dmitri Medvedev and Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands opened the new Hermitage museum in Amsterdam on Friday evening. The queen was accompanied by her eldest son, the prince of Orange, and her daughter-in-law princess Máxima, who wore an eccentric purple furry outfit, her tutti fruti bracelet and earrings with purple precious stones. The president was accompanied by his wife.

The festivities around the opening were organized outside the museum, on the river Amstel. Choreographer Hans van Manen, made a baller especially for the opening, which was performed by two Russian dancers of the National Ballet. The most important part of the festivities was the performance of the piece ‘Paintings at an Exhibition’from russian composer Modest Mussorgski (1839-1881), played by the orchestra of the royal navy. The festivities were closed with fireworks, after which the guests attended a reception inside the new museum. During the entire show a lot of references were made to Russian-Dutch connections, and at one point two enormous portraits of king Willem II and his Russian wife queen Anna Pavlovna were floating over the Amstel river.

View the image at PPE

View the image at PPE

The Hermitage Amsterdam opened the next day for normal visiters, and it stayed open for 31 hours non-stop. The first exhibition at the museum is one about Russian court life. The museum shows around 2000 objects, among them a lot of Russian court dresses, porcelein, portraits, jewels a throne and even the piano of the last Tsarina.

This was however not the only reason for the visit of president Medvedev. He also met the prime minister, J.P. Balkenende, they went on a sightseeing tour in a canal boat in Amsterdam. The president also met the Dutch foreign minister, with whom he discussed the situation of the pirates in front of the Somali coasst and how to trial them. President Medvedev and his wife stayed in the Okura hotel in Amsterdam, where the most expensive suit costs 10.000 euros a night.

Click here to go to the website of the Hermitage Amsterdam.

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