Alexandria MCP vs Rijksmuseum MCP

In-depth architectural comparison of the Alexandria MCP and Rijksmuseum MCP MCP servers. Compare execution transports, security boundaries, tool capabilities, quality scores, and ready-to-paste client installation snippets for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

Choose Alexandria MCP when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Art & Culture domain.
• You prefer remote streaming HTTP/SSE transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
• Primary tools included: search_texts, get_book_list, ping.

Explore Alexandria MCP Details

Choose Rijksmuseum MCP when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Art & Culture domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: API Key required (BYOK (Pay Provider Direct)).
• You have access to required keys: RIJKSMUSEUM_API_KEY, PORT, LOG_LEVEL.
• Primary tools included: Text and attribute-based artwork search, Comprehensive artwork metadata retrieval, High-resolution image access with deep zoom.

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Alexandria MCP AIDataNordic Art & Culture	Rijksmuseum MCP r-huijts Art & Culture
Summary	Semantic search over 4.6 million text chunks from 20,000 classical philosophy and humanities works. Built for AI agents using FastMCP.	Rijksmuseum API integration for artwork search, details, and collections
Category & Scope	Art & Culture

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

Ready-to-Paste Client Configurations

Paste either (or both) of these JSON server blocks into your client config file (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aidatanordic-alexandria-mcp": {
      "url": "https://alexandria.aidatanorge.no/mcp"
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "r-huijts-rijksmuseum-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-server-rijksmuseum"
      ],
      "env": {
        "RIJKSMUSEUM_API_KEY": "YOUR_RIJKSMUSEUM_API_KEY_HERE",
        "PORT": "YOUR_PORT_HERE",
        "LOG_LEVEL": "YOUR_LOG_LEVEL_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

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