The largest architecture festival in the Netherlands is descending on Museumpark during the whole month of June. Visitors of all ages can follow a route through green surroundings. It passes by special installations about the past, present and future of the park. The crowdpuller of this edition is the temporary opening of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. The monument is under construction but will reopen its doors to visitors for five weeks. A special art route takes them through the monumental building in a unique way.
It is not surprising that Rotterdam Architecture Month (RA Month) has chosen Museumpark as its centre. This year marks exactly 100 years since the Land of Hoboken, of which the park is part, became accessible in the form of a public space for all. The area has evolved over the past century from a private estate to a cultural hotspot in the city. It consists of a succession of various gardens from different periods, each with its own character. In recent years, new gardens have been added as well: the Nieuwe
Instituut’s New Garden, and roof gardens on the Depot and the Erasmus Medisch Centrum. It shows the development of diverse views on the significance of green space, culture and recreation for the city.
During RA Month, the various institutions, places and stories in Museumpark will be connected by a route that zigzags through the area. This will activate Museumpark as the quintessential garden for and of the city.
Route through the park
The route leads visitors through an outdoor exhibition to special places in the park, marked by interventions by different designers. For instance, in the garden of museumhouse Huis Sonneveld, a leading example of Dutch functionalist architecture that dates from 1933, a metres-high tower is being built that allows visitors to literally walk through time. The route continues to Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. It has been closed since 2019 for a large-scale renovation and restructuring. It will reopen for five weeks especially for RA Month. In the Henket pavilion behind the museum, lectures, workshops, films and debates will take place, programmed by AIR – Architecture Institute Rotterdam
in collaboration with many partners from the city. The route continues with a temporary bridge from the museum garden to an intervention in the Rose Garden and other special places in the Museumpark.
