For the first time since 1945, the Night Watch sees the outside air again. The Rijksmuseum is facing a major renovation and the artworks, including the Night Watch, will be given a place in the Drucker extension for a few years, also called Philips wing, in the Museumstraat.
Wim Hoeben, nowadays Location Manager Collection Center Nederland of the Rijksmuseum, and Paul Nies, who at the time works for art removal company Gerlach, are the last two movers of the Nachtwacht. In 2002 they are instructed to move the immense painting. Hoeben and Nies have been planning this precision operation for a year.
Garlandes
“Everything was in jugs and jugs. A whole scenario. The passage under the Rijksmuseum was high enough. Everything was checked. On the day of the move itself, we open the outside door and we see that someone has enjoyed hanging up those garlands in the entire passage.”
The cheerful Christmas decorations are quite in the way of the movers. “Someone probably thought:” They are going to move the Night Watch, then it is also nice if it looks a bit festive. “
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