XR activists chain themselves to Rijksmuseum entrance, museum closed for the time being

Extinction Rebellion activists chained themselves to the tunnel fences leading to the Rijksmuseum's entrance on Saturday morning. The climate action group wants to prevent visitors from entering the Amsterdam museum. As a result, the museum was closed "until further notice", local broadcaster AT5 reports. XR wants the museum to end its sponsorship relationship with the ING bank.

The yellow-clad protesters unfurled two large banners with the text "Rijks, say no to ING" and hung up two banners with slogans such as "No art on a dead planet" at around 8:30 a.m. Then some of the XR activists chained themselves to the fences.

"It is incomprehensible that the Rijksmuseum is allowing itself to be sponsored by ING, the biggest financial driver of the climate crisis," said an XR spokesperson. "By accepting money from ING, the museum is giving the big polluter the opportunity to hide its dirty face behind famous works of art from Dutch history. This has to stop."

According to the environmental activists, the bank's sponsorship of the Rijskmuseum makes no sense, as the museum generates little income from this business relationship. The Rijksmuseum's total revenue in 2023 amounted to 123.3 million euros, of which 55.8 million euros came from ticket sales and 39 million euros from subsidies. ING's contribution is estimated at around 700,000 euros. This means that if the Rijksmuseum breaks the sponsorship relationship with ING, it will lose less than 0.6% of its income," XR claims.

The Rijksmuseum is one of the most visited museums in the Netherlands. It usually opens at 9 a.m. on Saturdays.

In February, XR also took action against the relationship between ING and the museum by placing itself in front of the artworks with edited paintings during the opening of the Frans Hals exhibition.

ING thinks the action at the Rijksmuseum goes too far. "If XR has a problem with ING's financing policy, they should contact us directly and not the Rijksmuseum. We are always open to dialogue," an ING spokesperson said. XR has been campaigning against the bank's climate policy for some time, such as by blocking the A10 at ING's former headquarters in Amsterdam.