In 2025, The New York Times declared Rotterdam one of the top ten must-visit cities in the world. Over 125 years ago, curious travellers were also drawn to Rotterdam, armed with an iconic, red Baedeker travel guide. Tourists have since been discovering the most beautiful spots in this city in full transition: from classical merchant city to modern metropolis. The exhibition Destination Rotterdam at the Kunsthal highlights this period of rapid growth, innovation, and international flair and shows how a city like Rotterdam was able to become an increasingly attractive travel destination for tourists from all over the world around 1900.
The red Baedeker travel guides created by German publisher Karl Baedeker appeared in various languages and offered travellers practical information, detailed maps, and listings of places of interest. In 1835, one of these guides first mentioned Rotterdam as an attractive stop during a journey along the Rhine. The exhibition uses the Baedeker as its point of departure: the places described and recommended in the guide come to life in twenty paintings depicting these locations. The objects are part of the collection of Museum Rotterdam.
Rotterdam in the Picture
In the exhibition, you are following in the footsteps of tourists who were exploring an actively evolving city. In 1871, the Baedeker guide describes Rotterdam as ‘one of the cleanest, least smoky, and most pleasant of all the merchant cities.’ Not long after, the construction of the Nieuwe Waterweg canal and the city’s expansion towards the south led to an explosive rise in harbour and shipping activities, as well as in population. Artists like Jongkind and Richters captured these transformations in their paintings: from the lively Leuvehaven harbour to the impressive railway viaduct across the Kolk waterway.
Built in 1898, the high-rise building Het Witte Huis further emphasised the transformation from a traditional, old-Dutch inland harbour to a modern urban district. Rotterdam not only became busier and more crowded, but also gained a livelier character. Van Voorden’s painting, for instance, depicts the touristic adventure of three elegant ladies on the Oosterkade river bank, absorbed in their red Baedeker guide. He also captured the Oudehaven where large posters gracing the banks enticed tourists into visiting theatres and dance halls.
Collaboration
The exhibition Destination Rotterdam is a collaboration between Kunsthal Rotterdam and Museum Rotterdam.
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