Rotterdam, the first to have...

Metro Rotterdam

Rotterdam was the first city of the Netherlands that got this rapid transit system. The first line, called the North –South line, was officially opened on the 9^th of February 1968 by princess Beatrix and Prince Claus. The line was between Rotterdam Central Station and the shopping center on Zuidplein, and with that it was one of the shortest metro lines of the world; only 5.9 kilometers! It didn’t take long after the opening that the metro line was expanded. Today the original line is 30 kilometers!

The second line opened on the 6^th of May 1982 and traveled between the Capelsebrug and Coolhaven (and was then named the East-West line).

Currently there are 5 different metro lines, named A to E, and offer daily transport for about 175.000 passengers per day.

The Maastunnel

The Maas tunnel is the first ever car tunnel of the Netherlands. It connects the banks of the Maas river. Even though a part of the construction took place during the occupation, the tunnel opened without ceremony on 14 February 1942.

In 1944 the Germans places explosives in the tunnel, so they could blow up the tunnel on any given time. This didn’t happen, probably because the detonator of the explosives was defused by the resistance.  

The tunnel is divided into 4 parts: two ways for the cars, one for the bicycles and one for the pedestrians. Currently there are about 75.000 vehicles that use the tunnel every day.

The Dutch Photo Institute

Even though there was a long discussion about where the Dutch Photo Institute would be placed, Rotterdam was the final answer. Thanks to the photo gallery Perspectief, that divided its attention to photography as art form, the photo archive was already established in the city in 1990. The institute opened 4 years later.

Instead of a traditional photo museum, the institute is a place in which photography has a place in the context of the entire visual culture. This means that not only art photography is in exposition, but the total spectrum of images produced by media film, photography and electronic media. 

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