r-huijts/rijksmuseum-mcp

Overview

An MCP server that connects to the Rijksmuseum API, enabling artwork search and metadata retrieval. Developers can query collection objects, access image URLs, and filter by artist, material, or period through MCP-compatible clients.

Best for

Best for
Developers building art-oriented chat tools or data pipelines using the Rijksmuseum API

Use cases

• Browse Rijksmuseum collection by keyword or artist name
• Retrieve high-resolution image URLs and object details for analysis
• Build an art discovery tool using MCP-based chat interfaces

How to use

Tools exposed

• search_artwork
• get_artwork_details
• get_artwork_image
• get_user_sets
• get_user_set_details
• open_image_in_browser
• get_artist_timeline

Tested with

Claude Desktop

Example client config

{\n  "mcpServers": {\n    "rijksmuseum-server": {\n      "command": "npx",\n      "args": [\n        "-y",\n        "mcp-server-rijksmuseum"\n      ],\n      "env": {\n        "RIJKSMUSEUM_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"\n      }\n    }\n  }\n}

Notes

An MCP server that connects to the Rijksmuseum API, enabling artwork search and metadata retrieval. Developers can query collection objects, access image URLs, and filter by artist, material, or period through MCP-compatible clients.

68 stars on GitHub. Last updated 2025-02-07. Licensed MIT.

Use cases

• Browse Rijksmuseum collection by keyword or artist name
• Retrieve high-resolution image URLs and object details for analysis
• Build an art discovery tool using MCP-based chat interfaces

Pros

• Simplifies access to a major museum API via the MCP protocol
• Written in JavaScript, easy to integrate with Node.js projects
• Active maintenance with growing community (68 stars)

Cons

• Requires a free Rijksmuseum API key, adding setup friction
• Limited to the Rijksmuseum collection (no multi-museum support)
• Documentation assumes familiarity with MCP server configuration

Indexed from awesome-mcp-servers-punkpeye and enriched against its public facts.