Rotterdam is abundant with art and culture, it has numerous renowned art spaces and museums boasting top art exhibitions that are open year-round, offers plenty of theatres, dance, and music to choose from, hosted by Rotterdam’s numerous theatres and concert halls, and even an edible city garden with live music on Sunday afternoons!
The city is also celebrated for its varied and truly unique architecture, the best fact to know about Rotterdam is that the Blitz flattened the city with bombs in World War II, and was rebuilt around the few remaining buildings in an eclectic style which is now described as “Disneyland for architecture geeks” - (BBC Travel) offering a wide display of architectural experimentation.
Another useful tip is that 2019 marks 100 years of the Bauhaus, the modernist German art school which has a shared history with Rotterdam. As well as Bauhaus architecture, such as J.J.P. Oud’s Housing Block, some fascinating exhibitions give insight into the Bauhaus’s Dutch connection.
Many museums are located inside the wonderful buildings themselves, adding to the rich architecture of Rotterdam, share these lists with your clients!
Top-10 must-see buildings and art spaces in Rotterdam!
Architecture
- Cube House - a must-see yellow “forest” of very unique 45° angle “Cube Houses”.
- Central Station - the striking central station “the gateway to the high-rise urban center”.
- Market Hall - a huge arch of apartments over a market with food shops and restaurants.
- Timmerhuis building - translucent, sustainable and modular cubes adjoining a 1950's building.
- Floating Pavilion - floating geodesic domes in the center of Rotterdam.
- Van Nelle Factory - a classic example of Nieuwe Bouwen Dutch modernist architecture.
- The Bridge (Unilever) - a huge rectangular building hovering above a 19th-century office.
- De Kiefhoek - J.J.P. Oud’s first white housing project, earning him international recognition.
- De Rotterdam - Rem Koolhaas’s iconic towering, blocky and multi-purpose ‘vertical city’.
- The Shipping and Transport College (STC MBO College) - a checkered building that looks like a giant periscope!
Art Spaces & Museums
- Kunsthal Rotterdam - diverse exhibitions in a late 80s early 90s building by Rem Koolhaas.
- Het Nieuwe Instituut - Museum for Architecture, Design and Digital Culture.
- Nederlands Fotomuseum - Dutch and international photography focused on innovation.
- TENT - exhibition space for significant and current developments in contemporary art.
- Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art - an internationally known art institute.
- Het Goethe-Institut Rotterdam - hosting Virtual Bauhaus until 20 December 2019.
- The Natural History Museum Rotterdam - within a national monument built-in 1852.
- Chabot Museum - an important collection of works by Dutch expressionist Henk Chabot.
- Maritime Museum - permanent collection, special exhibitions, events, and guided tours.
- Depot Bojimans Van Beuningen - a huge circular mirrored facade housing museum storage to open 2021.
To send your clients to one of the brilliant film, dance, theatre and music events , check out the Rotterdam’s cultural agenda or look at the schedules at Theater Rotterdam Schouwburg, Nieuwe Luxor Theater, or LantarenVenster, which has a history stretching back to 1949!
