On 7 February 2026, the Nederlands Fotomuseum will open its doors in the recently renovated Santos warehouse, a national monument located on Rotterdam’s Rijnhaven. With over 6.5 million objects, the museum has one of the largest museum collections of photography in the world. In this monumental building, cultural heritage, architecture and a contemporary museum presentation come together to create an international meeting place for photography. The Nederlands Fotomuseum is the National Museum of Photography of the Netherlands: it collects, preserves, studies and presents Dutch photographic heritage. The museum occupies a key position in Dutch photography.
The opening in the Santos warehouse heralds a new chapter for the most important centre for photography in the Netherlands. In the nine-story state-of-the-art building – one of the best-preserved historic warehouses in the country – visitors will not only have access to masterpieces from the national collection, but also a unique glimpse behind the scenes in the open storage rooms and restoration workshops. This new museum houses the Gallery of Honour of Dutch Photography, temporary exhibitions and educational spaces. It also has a library with the largest collection of photo books in Europe, a darkroom, open studio spaces, a café and a restaurant with a panoramic view of the Rotterdam skyline.
The collection and the studio spaces are located in the heart of the building, spread over two floors. Glass walls allow visitors to take a look behind the scenes: the open depots display a selection from the archive, together with special and remarkable objects from the collection, while the visitor can also see specialists at work on restoration and conservation in the studios.
The Gallery of Honour of Dutch Photography shows the development of photography in the Netherlands, from the invention of photography in 1839 to the current age. These rooms display 99 photographs that have been selected for their social and/or artistic impact and include masterpieces by Anton Corbijn, Dana Lixenberg, Violette Cornelius, Ed van der Elsken, Paul Huf, Rineke Dijkstra, and Erwin Olaf.
Rotterdam in Focus: The City in Photographs 1843 – Now is one of two temporary exhibitions marking the launch of the Nederlands Fotomuseum in the Santos warehouse in Rotterdam. It offers an impressive overview of photography of the city from 1843 to the present day. More than 300 photos unfold the development of photography over a period of some 180 years. Iconic photographers such as Hans Aarsman, Iwan Baan, Eva Besnyö, Henri Berssenbrugge, Johann Georg Hameter, Helena van der Kraan, Jannes Linders, Cas Oorthuys, Otto Snoek and others show how a changing Rotterdam constantly challenges us to find new ways of looking, observing and photographing.
The exhibition Awakening in Blue: An Ode to Cyanotype celebrates the timeless beauty of one of the oldest and most recognisable photographic techniques: cyanotype. In addition to rare, early blueprints, the exhibition features work by fifteen contemporary artists. Their work explores current themes such as ecology, colonialism and the body as a living archive.