Rembrandt's 'Night Watch' returned to Amsterdam museum

AMSTERDAM Rembrandt's iconic masterpiece the "Night Watch" has been painstakingly returned to the main building of Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum before its re-opening next month after a decade of renovations.

Removing the priceless painting from a temporary wing and moving it to the main building Wednesday was an operation of almost military precision.

Dozens of police stood guard as it was slid into a climate-controlled crate and cranes were used to lift it out of one gallery and into another.

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The 1642 oil painting of one of Amsterdam's citizen militias, officially titled "The Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch," measures 12.43 x 14.86 feet and weighs 743 pounds.