Rijksmuseum reborn: Rembrandt's 'Night Watch' explained

Click on the picture above to reveal the artwork's secrets.

(CNN) -- Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, one of the world's best-known galleries, reopens April 13 after a massive 10-year rebuild.

At the heart of the "new" museum is its most treasured painting, "The Night Watch," a group portrait of one of Amsterdam's local militias, painted by Rembrandt van Rijn in 1642, at the height of the Dutch Golden Age.

Read more: Rijksmuseum reopens after 10-year refurb

Architect Pierre Cuypers designed the building around the massive masterpiece -- it measures 11 feet by 14 feet -- in 1885, and it is the only work to be returned to its original location in the radically revamped gallery.

"Everything has changed, the only thing that hasn't is 'The Night Watch'," explains Wim Pijbes, the museum's director. "It is the altarpiece of the Rijksmuseum, the whole place is arranged around this beautiful masterpiece."

Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, home to one of the world's greatest art collections, reopens to the public on Saturday April 13, after a mammoth 10-year US$489m renovation project. The exhibits have been reorganized into chronological order, with paintings, furniture and other objects displayed side-by-side to tell the history of the Netherlands.

The museum's original entrance hall, designed by architect Pierre Cuypers in 1885, and decorated with opulent wall paintings by Georg Sturm, has been returned to its former glory.

The jewel-like stained glass windows in the entrance hall celebrate great architects, sculptors and painters, including Rembrandt van Rijn, and add to the cathedral-like atmosphere.

Contrasting ancient and modern, Spanish architects Cruz y Ortiz reinstated the building's original courtyards, which had been crammed with makeshift galleries for decades, linking them into one huge, bright and airy atrium.

The museum's collection of one million objects, some 8,000 of which are on display at any one time, span 800 years, from the Middle Ages to modern artist Piet Mondrian, and including this 1887 self portrait by Vincent Van Gogh.

This painted terracotta statue of the "Mater Dolorosa," or "Our Lady of Sorrows" (c.1500-1510) is among the new acquisitions collected while the museum was closed to visitors.

At the heart of the gallery is its most-prized possession, "The Night Watch," by Rembrandt van Rijn (1642). The museum was designed around the painting, and it is the only artwork to be returned to its original place.

Turner Prize-winning British artist Richard Wright was commissioned to create a new installation, featuring more than 47,000 black stars, in dizzying patterns on the ceilings of the rooms to the sides of "The Night Watch".

The Rijksmuseum is also home to several works by Johannes Vermeer -- "The Milkmaid" (1658-1660) is among those taking pride of place in the church-like Gallery of Honor.

Pictures are hung on walls painted in shades of gray, the colors chosen so that they does not distract from the artworks themselves.

In the 20th Century galleries, Fritz Koolhoven's FK 23 Bantam plane sits alongside a painting by Piet Mondrian, both items considered the height of modernity in their era.

Disturbing periods of Dutch history are also acknowledged. These facial casts of Nias Islanders, made by anthropologist J.P. Kleiweg de Zwaan as part of his studies of racial "types" are displayed alongside a concentration camp uniform and a chess set given as a gift by Nazi Heinrich Himmler.

The museum's special collections, of weapons, fashion and jewellery, Dutch porcelain and musical instruments are displayed in the crypt-like basement. Here, a fleet of model ships sail across the room.

An entirely new annexe, the Asian Pavillion, has been built to house the museum's collection of art from China, Japan, Indonesia, India, Vietnam and Thailand.

Another highlight of the "new" museum is its ornate four-story library, complete with vertiginous spiral staircase, which has never been open to the public before.

Visitors will be able to witness the renovation from April 13, 2013.

Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

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Rijksmuseum reopens after 10 years

Visitors will approach Rembrandt's painting through the cathedral-like entrance hall, filled with jewel-toned stained glass and extravagant wall decorations, and the restored Gallery of Honor, home to the Rijksmuseum's collection of 17th century works.

Pieter Roelofs, curator of 17th century art, told CNN the arrangement "shows off how important this painting is to the Dutch nation. It is the national treasure."

In keeping with the ethos of the new-look museum, "The Night Watch" is surrounded by other militia portraits of the era, giving the piece context but also showing just how innovative Rembrandt's work was.

And there's another hint as to just how well-loved the priceless painting is on the floor beneath it: The outline of a trap door. "The Night Watch" is the only picture in the gallery to have its own "escape slide," designed in 1934, to allow it to be swiftly moved out of danger in case of fire, or other threats.

Click on the picture above to reveal the artwork's secrets.