Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam Van Gogh Museum maintains the world’s largest collection of the works of the world’s most popular artist - Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), his paintings, drawings and letters, completed with the art of his contemporaries. Each year, 1.6 million visitors come to the Van Gogh Museum, making it one of the 25 most popular museums in the world.

The collection features the works of Vincent van Gogh – more than 200 painting, 500 drawings but also works of other artists, his contemporaries – Impressionists and Postimpressionists. Van Gogh's work is organized chronologically into five periods, each representing a different period of his life and work: The Netherlands, Paris, Arles, Saint-Remy and Auvers-sur-Oise. The museum made part of its collection accessible on Internet throughGoogle Art Project.

The modern main building was designed by Gerrit Rietveld, completed by his partners after his death (opened in 1973), with later built elliptical exhibition wing by Kisho Kurokawa (opened in 1999).

References:

Amsterdam.info

User Reviews

Arron Beckett (19 months ago)
Great museum to visit. Details the life of Van Gogh and the paintings are superb. Good restaurant with lots of healthy choice. Shops on site selling lots of arty stuff. Lots of walking involved but good access for wheelchair users as well. Would recommend.

Jack Longfield (19 months ago)
Much better than I was expecting. The story of his life was interesting as well as moving and the art was excellent. I was happy to find a couple of Monet's within the collection I was not expecting to see. Bit pricey though (€19pp).

Bryony Pimble (19 months ago)
Sadly the sunflowers painting was undergoing conservation when I visited, however the rest of the works on show made up for it. I love the sketches and sketchbooks too. The letters would have been interesting if I could understand the language- but that's my own ignorant fault! Great museum. Really enjoyed it.

Big Ped (20 months ago)
An informative and interesting exhibition. I recommend including the audio description as this elucidates many interesting facts about the paintings and Van Gogh's State of mind during that period. There are hundreds of paintings to see arranged over 3 floors. There is a timeline and narrative connected to the paintings as you proceed upwards to the third and final floor. Clearly described and unpretentious. Well worth a visit.

Tzu-Ya Liao (2 years ago)
Of course, I pretty enjoyed when I attended the museum. As Vincent Van Gogh is my role model while I was in high school which is the time I kept painting. The collections are awesome and the routes, organization in the museum are great, which can let us understanding Van Gogh from the beginning of his painting career to the end. Also we can know about how he painted and who influenced him at different stages. The last things I really surprised was the event holding at the top floor, which asked you to draw the outline(try to copy how Vincent drew). Not everyone did it, but I think it was a great chance to know how great he was, how marvelous works he made.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Dan Lundberg

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Hagios Demetrios

The Church of Saint Demetrius, or Hagios Demetrios, is the main sanctuary dedicated to Saint Demetrius, the patron saint of Thessaloniki. It is part of the site Palaeochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki on the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO since 1988.

The first church on the spot was constructed in the early 4th century AD, replacing a Roman bath. A century later, a prefect named Leontios replaced the small oratory with a larger, three-aisled basilica. Repeatedly gutted by fires, the church eventually was reconstructed as a five-aisled basilica in 629–634. This was the surviving form of the church much as it is today. The most important shrine in the city, it was probably larger than the local cathedral. The historic location of the latter is now unknown.

The church had an unusual shrine called the ciborium, a hexagonal, roofed structure at one side of the nave. It was made of or covered with silver. The structure had doors and inside was a couch or bed. Unusually, it did not hold any physical relics of the saint. The ciborium seems to have been a symbolic tomb. It was rebuilt at least once.

The basilica is famous for six extant mosaic panels, dated to the period between the latest reconstruction and the inauguration of the Byzantine Iconoclasm in 730. These mosaics depict St. Demetrius with officials responsible for the restoration of the church (called the founders, ktetors) and with children. An inscription below one of the images glorifies heaven for saving the people of Thessalonica from a pagan Slavic raid in 615.

Thessaloniki became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1430. About 60 years later, during the reign of Bayezid II, the church was converted into a mosque, known as the Kasımiye Camii after the local Ottoman mayor, Cezeri Kasım Pasha. The symbolic tomb however was kept open for Christian veneration. Other magnificent mosaics, recorded as covering the church interior, were lost either during the four centuries when it functioned as a mosque (1493–1912) or in the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 that destroyed much of the city. It also destroyed the roof and upper walls of the church. Black-and-white photographs and good watercolour versions give an idea of the early Byzantine craftsmanship lost during the fire.

Following the Great Fire of 1917, it took decades to restore the church. Tombstones from the city"s Jewish cemetery - destroyed by the Greek and Nazi German authorities - were used as building materials in these restoration efforts in the 1940s. Archeological excavations conducted in the 1930s and 1940s revealed interesting artifacts that may be seen in a museum situated inside the church"s crypt. The excavations also uncovered the ruins of a Roman bath, where St. Demetrius was said to have been held prisoner and executed. A Roman well was also discovered. Scholars believe this is where soldiers dropped the body of St. Demetrius after his execution. After restoration, the church was reconsecrated in 1949.

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