10 things about the Great Hall, Gallery of Honour, and Night Watch Gallery

In 1934, The Night Watch became the only painting in the world to get its own exit – a slit was cut into the floor that was large enough for the painting to pass through, frame and all.

In the ground plan, the layout of the Gallery of Honour looks like a Gothic cathedral. In fact the gallery is often compared with the nave of the church – except here the alcoves are for artists, not saints.

In a church you’ll find the high altar – the most important place in the building – at one end of the nave. At the Rijksmuseum, it’s the place where you’ll find Rembrandt’s The Night Watch.

This history was to be told in the Great Hall through the medium of paintings and stained glass windows. Images on the floor show earthly life through the cycle of humankind and nature, sun and moon, and the zodiac.

The stained glass windows in the Great Hall depict what the architect Cuypers believed were the three greatest arts. He believed architecture, shown in the central window, was the greatest art of them all, because it incorporated the other arts.

The paintings in the Great Hall look like frescoes, but there’re actually painted on canvas. They depict various virtues, such as Charity, and scenes from Dutch history in which each virtue is put into practice.

In the Night Watch Gallery, there are four figures of women on high pedestals who appear to be supporting the roof. These are the personifications of morning, afternoon, evening and, of course, night.

The side galleries used to be screened off with heavy curtains – to lead visitors to the far end of the gallery, where The Night Watch hung.

In the early 1920s, all the paintings in the Great Hall were removed, and the decorations either disposed of or painted over. After that, more and more decorations, walls, and even vaulted ceilings were painted white.

Above the side galleries in the Gallery of Honour are the coats of arms of each of the 11 Dutch provinces of the period, along with views of their capital cities. At the end of the gallery are the coats of arms of Haarlem and Amsterdam.