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[An Nahar] Dutch King Willem-Alexander on Friday officially reopens the renovated Mauritshuis museum, home to Vermeer's iconic "Girl with the Pearl Earring" and a treasure trove of other Golden Age masterpieces.I've never seen the original, but I've been in love with her for fifty years or so.
The elegant 17th-century mansion in The Hague has undergone a 30-million-euro ($40-million) revamp and more than doubled its floor space thanks to an art deco extension accessed through a light-filled underground atrium.
The king will be welcomed by a real-life "Girl with the Pearl Earring", who will hand him a key to officially declare the museum open to the public again after more than two years.
Museum director Emilie Gordenker will give the king a guided tour of the Hague city center museum, which will be broadcast live on giant television screens outside.
Queen Maxima will not be attending, the palace said.
Entry on Friday evening is free until midnight, with city center shops offering a range of activities to mark the occasion.
During the renovation, which began in 2012, many of the museum's best-known pieces, including "Girl with the Pearl Earring", have been touring the world, drawing millions from New York to Tokyo.
"'The Girl with the Pearl Earring' has become an icon, she's become the 'Mona Lisa' of the north, and she does belong here," Gordenker told AFP last week.
"There's something very special about the painting which maybe in a way is a bit like the Mauritshuis: we're small, we're intimate," she said of the museum that is also known as "the jewel box".
