Breakfast at the Rijksmuseum

– This post was written by Yasmin Gleghorn –

“Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper”. Everyone knows the old saying, but how literally do people take it? Starting the day with a crown on your head may seem like too much, but Tiqets’ team wasn’t too far off when it decided to host a special breakfast at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum (“Imperial Museum” in Dutch).

With croissants, coffee and exclusive access to the Gallery of Honour, find out what it’s like to wander around the Netherlands’ largest art museum with the Netherlands’ fastest growing tech scale up. All before official opening hours!

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Skip the line like a Rijksmuseum VIP

After being told to be at the museum bright and early, sleepy-eyed Tiqeteers woke up immediately when they realized they had the museum ALL. TO. THEMSELVES. The museum usually opens its doors at 9AM, but our international team was let in at 8AM. It’s the ultimate skip the line experience (especially when you bypass the line of grumpy tourists already queuing at the doors!).

Award-winning motivation

Once we’d all settled down after a quick catch up (“Guys! We’re eating in the Rijksmuseum!”), CEO Luuc Elzinga stood up in a fetching turquoise (?) blazer to give one of his famous motivational speeches. Don’t let that sweet face fool you: this Dutch businessman knows a thing or two about getting results (winning the Tech5 award two years in a row is proof of that).

Spot the Rembrandt!

A croissant, a pot of jam and two pots of coffee each later, it was time to stretch our legs in the most cultural way possible: by heading to the Gallery of Honour, home to The Night Watch (1642), Rembrandt van Rijn’s 17th-century masterwork. At 11 x 14ft, you can easily see why this piece deserves its own little slice of prime Rijksmuseum real estate. The life-size masterpiece is one of the most famous paintings of the Dutch Golden Age, and the perfect setting for a full-scale company photoshoot.

Fun fact: you’d likely miss him amid the bustling company of distinguished men, but in the middle of the painting, behind a man in green and a guard with a metal helm, you can spot a barely-there man. Only his eye and a beret are visible, but this elusive figure is believed to be how Rembrandt wedged himself into his most famous work.