Almost 2,000 items from the 18th and 19th century, including paintings, dresses and china, will be on display.

Queen Beatrix and Dmitry Medvedev (AFP Photo / Anp Marcel Antonisse)

The Queen and the Russian leader attended the opening ceremony. The exhibition is housed at a complex on the bank of the Amstel River, a 325-year-old former nursing home that underwent a euro40 million (US$55 million) renovation, the AP reports. The Hermitage loaned 1,800 items worth about euro4.5 million (US$6.27 million) for a six-month exhibition displaying the elegance of the 18th- and 19th-century czarist court.

Commenting on the museum’s opening, Amsterdam’s Deputy Mayor said there’s so much more to his city than sex, drugs and tulips, the three unofficial symbols of Holland’s capital.

President Medvedev arrived in Amsterdam on Friday for talks with Queen Beatrix, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and the heads of leading Dutch and international corporations.

The opening of the museum was the central event in this working visit, a Kremlin representative told the Itar-Tass news agency.

Russian-Dutch cultural ties date back to Peter the Great’s first visit to Holland in 1696.