Rotterdam Museums
From:
Rotterdam Travel Guide
ABOVE: Mannequins from the Maritime Museum
prepare for duty on HNLMS Buffel, a 19th Century Dutch naval
ship.
Art museums
Two Rottermam institutions are among the 10 top-ranked art
museums in the Netherlands:
 The
Museum Boijmans Van Beunigen is the
leading all-around art museum in Rotterdam, with exhibits of paintings,
sculpture, and design from the Middle Ages through the present day. The museum
occupies a 1950s building in the Museumpark, on the western edge of the city
center.
 The
Kunsthal, which was designed by the Dutch
architect Rem Koolhas, presents a wide range of temporary exhibits. (At the
time of this writing, current or scheduled exhibitions ranged from "New
Horizons: The Hague School and the Modern Dutch Landscape" to "Modern Life:
Edward Hopper and his Time."
 The
Chabot Museum,
located across the street from NAI and next door to Sonneveld House (see our
Rotterdam architecture and art
page), is a 1930s villa furnished with paintings and sculptures by the Dutch
expressionist artist Henk Chabot.
The Nederlands
Fotomuseum, or Netherlands Photo Museum, is in a former warehouse near the
Rotterdam Cruise Terminal just beyond the island side of Erasmus Bridge. (Much
of the museum's collection can be viewed online.)
Maritime and Harbor Museums
 The
Maritime
Museum is one of the world's leading museums of its kind, with an
interactive "MainPort Live" exhibit, ship models, and special exhibitions that
may run for a year or two. (During our visit, we enjoyed the display of luxury
ship and yacht interiors.) A high point is the
Museum Ship Buffel, an
ironclad turret-ram naval ship from 1868 where you can see how sailors lived,
worked, and kept the coal-fired boilers working in the early days of steamships.
 Next
door, the Havenmuseum or
Harbor Museum is a "working museum" with indoor and outdoor exhibits about the
Port of Rotterdam in the past and present. You can see old ships and tugboats,
harbor cranes, an antique lighthouse, and other displays--all free of charge.
 Tip:
After your visit to the Maritime Museum and Harbor Museum, head back into
the city center via the
Kraneschipbrug, a floating pedestrian bridge that connects with docks for
vintage boats and the Leuvehaven water-taxi landing.
Other museums in Rotterdam
 The
Belasting & Douane Museum, a.k.a. the Tax
and Customs Museum, is one of the more unusual museums in Rotterdam. And unlike
the taxation office or a customs official, it won't demand payment: Admission is
free.
The
Natural
History Museum Rotterdam has fossils, skeleton, stuffed animals, dead
butterflies, and other exhibits that are typical of its genre. The museum is
located in Museumpark, in a building that dates back to 1851.
 Finally,
the Schielandshuis (inset photo) and De Dubbelde Palmbloom house the
Historical Museum of Rotterdam. The
main building, the Schielandshuis, dates back to 1665 and was built as the
headquarters of the Schieland dike authority. Its exhibits feature paintings,
engraving, sketches, and artifacts (including chunks of ruins from the 1940
bombings) along with a collection of antique and modern objects from everyday
life.
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1st inset photo: Museum Boijmans Van Beunigen.
2nd inset photo: Kunsthal Rotterdam.
8th inset photo: Robert van Beets.
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