Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam is moving to a new harborside home to house its collection of 6 million photos
The Santos building which will be the new home for the Dutch museum used to be a coffee warehouse(Image credit: Nederlands Fotomuseum)
The Dutch national photography museum, Nederlands Fotomuseum, is moving to a gigantic new home in Rotterdam. The historic eight-story warehouse in the harborside area of the city is set to open in 2025.
As well as housing the six million photographs in the national collection, and have several exhibition areas. The Fotomuseum will also house a bookshop, library, education rooms, café, and a rooftop restaurant with a panoramic view of the Rotterdam skyline.
The Santos building was built in 1903 as a coffee warehouse for the nearby port, and originally had six nearly identical storeys, with a cast-iron column structure. A spacious atrium has now been built in the middle with a central stairwell - and two new storeys have been added, with a distinctive crown-shaped semi-transparent facade.
Artist's impression of the new Nederlands Fotomuseum, with its semi-transparent crown (Image credit: Nederlands Fotomuseum)
Nederlands Fotomuseum was established in 2003, and is currently housed in the Las Palmas building, on the opposite side of the Rijkshaven harbor from its new home.
"It is fantastic that we are in a position to realize this dream", comments Birgit Donker, Director of the Nederlands Fotomuseum. "Santos will be the place where photography is celebrated to the full, from amateur photos to art photography and all that comes with it".
Chris George has worked on Digital Camera World since its launch in 2017. He has been writing about photography, mobile phones, video making and technology for over 30 years – and has edited numerous magazines including PhotoPlus, N-Photo, Digital Camera, Video Camera, and Professional Photography.
His first serious camera was the iconic Olympus OM10, with which he won the title of Young Photographer of the Year - long before the advent of autofocus and memory cards. Today he uses a Nikon D800, a Fujifilm X-T1, a Sony A7, and his iPhone 15 Pro Max.
He has written about technology for countless publications and websites including The Sunday Times Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, Dorling Kindersley, What Cellphone, T3 and Techradar.
