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A massive line gathered outside of the Rijksmuseum on April 14th for its grand reopening following a decade of renovations. The event was covered by news media all over the world.
But there was a second grand reopening that took place at the museum almost a month.
It got far less media attention, despite the large crowds gathered for the occasion.
This time, the masses weren't interested in seeking entrance to the museum.
Perched on their bicycles, this crew was there for the reopening of the museum's underpass - a tunnel cutting through the Rijksmuseum that serves as a path for cyclists.
Only in Holland!
The Rijksmuseum was designed by Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers as the result of a competition he'd won. However, the city of Amsterdam was not at all happy with his design.
After much debate, it was decided to allow Cuypers to go ahead with the building... on one condition.
The street the museum was due to be built on had to remain open to traffic. So Cuypers added the underpass through the center of the building.
In 1925, the museum's director at the time began fighting to ban traffic through the underpass. Motor traffic was banned in 1931, but that seemed as much as anyone was willing to concede.
When the renovations to the building began in 2004, the underpass was finally closed off, albeit temporarily.
Over the last ten years, museum directors, architects, and local government officials fought for permanent closure of the underpass. Amsterdam's cyclists' union was just as adamant that the underpass remain opened.
I'll let you take a guess at who won.
On May 13th, there was much cheering as the barricades were removed and hundreds of cyclists poured into the underpass.
The self-proclaimed "museum of the Netherlands," the Rijksmuseum prides itself on being the premier museum of Dutch history. So it is only fitting that right through it runs a tunnel dedicated to Holland's most integral past-time: cycling.
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