At our location at Coolhaven, you will experience what it means when your city is bombed. And what does your life look like when you are subsequently persecuted and oppressed?
Our permanent collection is housed in a 28-meter-long display gallery in which almost all the objects from our collection are exhibited. You will see weapons and uniforms, but also everyday items whose significance is not immediately clear. Behind these seemingly ordinary objects are often remarkable stories. Such as the porcelain clogs belonging to Mrs. Smit, given to her at a fair by her first boyfriend. Or the tin and wooden train made for Gerhard by his father while they were in hiding.
Objects and stories; together they form part of our history. A history that can only be preserved if we continue to share these stories.
An important part of the visit is the immersive Experience. You take a seat at an eight-meter-long touchscreen table, and before you know it, it is 14 May 1940. Bombs fall, the city burns, people scream, buildings collapse, and homes are destroyed. And then, suddenly, there is nothing left but a desolate, empty plain.
Yet this is not the end of the city. The people of Rotterdam come together and pick up the pieces, and reconstruction becomes a reality. In this short film, you experience the war up close and see how it shaped Rotterdam into a city so different from most others in the Netherlands.
The Destroyed City is a new exhibition space in Museum Rotterdam ’40–’45 NOW. Here, Rotterdam as it was before May 1940 comes back to life through photographs, film footage, and historical architectural models.
May 14, 1940, marks a traumatic turning point in the story of Rotterdam. Bombing, fire, and debris clearance erased a large part of the centuries-old built history of the inner city. During the reconstruction, Rotterdam made the radical choice to create a completely new city. Almost no one still alive today has personally experienced pre-war Rotterdam. Yet the old city continues to evoke strong emotions. We are proud of our modern city with world-famous works of architecture, but we also miss the historic centre.
The symbol of the devastated city’s heart, the famous sculpture The Destroyed City by Ossip Zadkine, marks the entrance to the redesigned space. The highlight is an enormous, 70-year-old scale model of the pre-war city centre, covering 9 square meters. Explore lost Rotterdam via an interactive touchscreen and experience the city before the bombing, the destruction, and the early reconstruction through photographs, film footage, maps and historical architectural models of Rotterdam’s iconic landmarks.
Museum Rotterdam ’40–’45 NOW
Coolhaven 375
Open Tue-Sun 11.00 – 17.00 hrs