Rotterdam Monuments & Museums

"Rotterdam Museums

Rotterdam has many museums. Well known museums are the Boijmans-van Beuningen Museum, the NAi (Netherlands Architecture Institute), the Historisch Museum (Historical museum), the Volkenkundig Museum (foreign peoples and cultures), the Kunsthal (design by Rem Koolhaas),the center for contemporary art Witte de With, the Maritiem Museum and the Brandweermuseum (Fire brigade museum). Other museums include the tax museum, the nature historical museum, historical museum the Dubbelde Palmboom and the Schielandhuis. At the historical shipyard and museum Scheepswerf 'De Delft the reconstruction of Ship of the Line 'De Delft' can be visited.

Architecture and skyline

In 1898, the 45 meter high-rise office building, the White House, was completed, at that time the tallest office building in Europe.

In the first decades of the 20th century, some influential architecture in the modern style was built in Rotterdam. Notable are the Van Nelle fabriek (1929) a monument of modern factory design by Brinkman en Van der Vlugt, the Jugendstil clubhouse of the Royal Maas Yacht Club designed by Hooijkaas jr. en Brinkman (1909), and Feyenoord's football stadium de Kuip (1936) also by Brinkman en Van der Vlugt. The architect J. J. P. Oud was a famous Rotterdammer in those days. During the early stages of World War II the center of Rotterdam was bombed by the Germans, destroying many of the older buildings in the center of the city. After initial crisis re-construction the center of Rotterdam has become the site of ambitious new architecture.

Rotterdam is also famous for its Kubuswoningen or cube houses built by architect Piet Blom in 1984. In addition to that there are many international well known architects based in Rotterdam like O.M.A (Rem Koolhaas), MVRDV, Neutelings & Riedijk and Erick van Egeraat to name a few.

Rotterdam houses several of the tallest structures in the Netherlands.

* The Erasmus Bridge (1996) is a 2,600-foot (790 m) cable stayed bridge linking the north and south of Rotterdam. It is held up by a 138 meters (453 ft) tall pylon with a characteristic bend, earning the bridge its nickname 'De Zwaan' ('the Swan').

* Rotterdam has the tallest residential building in the Netherlands: the Montevideo Tower (524-foot (160 m)).

* Rotterdam is also home to the tallest office building 'Delftse Poort' (520-foot (160 m)) which houses Nationale-Nederlanden insurance company, part of ING Group.

* The city also houses the 186 meters (610 ft) tall Euromast, which has long been a major tourist attraction. It was built in 1960, initially reaching a height of 101 meters (331 ft); in 1970, the Euromast was extended by 85 meters (279 ft) to its current height.

Rotterdam has a reputation in being a platform for architectural development and education through the Berlage Institute, a postgraduate laboratory of architecture, and the NAi (Netherlands Architecture Institute), which is open to the public and has a variety of good exhibitions on architecture and urban planning issues.

Rotterdam is standing in the best European SkylineTop together with Frankfurt, London, Paris, Moscow, Brussels and Warsaw. Over 30 new highrise projects are being developed at the moment, including the 165 meters (541 ft) high 'Maas Tower', the 'New Orleans Tower', which will be about 158 meters (518 ft) and the Zalmhaven Urban Tower 195 meters (640 ft)."

This articol is release from GNU Free Documentation License. It use material from Wikipedia voices: "Rotterdam".