Rijksmuseum

Designed by PJH Cuypers and opened in 1885, the Rijksmuseum holds the country's largest collection of art and artefacts, including 40 Rembrandts and four Vermeers. After a decade-long closure, it's currently basking in the favourable response to a multimillion Euro facelift at the capable hands of Spanish architects Cruz y Ortiz. The collection was started when William V began to acquire pieces just for the hell of it, and has been growing ever since: it includes Dutch paintings from the 15th century until 1900, as well as decorative and Asian art, which has its own newly-build pavilion. But the biggest draw is the collection of Golden Age jewels such as Rembrandt's Night Watch and Vermeer's Kitchen Maid and Woman Reading a Letter, plus a selection from the likes of Frans Hals, Jacob de Wit and Ferdinand Bol. There's also be a wealth of decorative arts on display, including 17th-century furniture and intricate silver and porcelain, 17th- and early 18th-century dolls' houses, plus furnishings to give a glimpse of how the interiors of canal houses looked. Eighteenth- and 19th-century paintings, art objects from Asia, statues, lacquer work, paintings, ceramics, jewellery, weaponry and the textile and costume collection are also visible; the accessible garden, filled with Golden Age gateways and architectural fragments on the west side, is an oasis of rest once you've had your fill.