Tagged: coolsingel

Artist impression of the sculpture by Hendrik van den Eijnde from the facade of architect W.M.Dudok's Bijenkorf department store, back on its original location on Coolsingel in Rotterdam

The return of the sculpture on Dudok’s Bijenkorf to the Coolsingel

For almost twenty years now, Rotterdam art lovers have been trying to bring the sculpture by Hendrik van den Eijnde, the only remnant of the old Bijenkorf department store by architect W.M Dudok, back to the place where it belongs: the Coolsingel. The omens are favourable: it may happen soon. Woerden As early as 2005, Aad Koster, board member of the Roterodamum Historical Society, raised the alarm: the Bijenkorf sculpture had been wasting away for decades on a business park in Woerden. There, at the Bijenkorf’s distribution center, the artwork was placed in 1973. Plaque The sculpture is often referred… Read More

The demolished Old Bijenkorf department store in Rotterdam by architect Dudok, as seen from the Schieland tower and surrounded by present day highrise buildings

The Unknown Side of Dudok

Two years ago I made the Bijenkorf triptych , as a homage to a legendary building with a tragic history: the old Bijenkorf department store in Rotterdam by architect W.M. Dudok. Maybe the most beautiful building that was constructed in the Netherlands in the twentieth century, but after only ten years, it was largely destroyed by German bombs. The part that survived the bombing was patched up and served twenty years as a department store and as storage but was finally demolished in 1960. The documentary City of Light by Peter Veenendaal tells the complete story about this lost architectural… Read More