Rotterdam is a municipality and city in the Dutch province of South-Holland, situated in the west of The Netherlands and part of the Randstad. The municipality is the second largest in the country (behind Amsterdam), with a population of approximately 600, 000 people. The city has 1. 3 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area.
The port of Rotterdam is the largest in Europe. From 1962 to 2004, it was the world's busiest port; then it was superseded by Shanghai.
Although Rotterdam did well after the middle ages and in the 'Golden Century' - roughly between 1650 and 1750) it was not before the second part of the nineteenth century that the city started to develop itself rapidly. Helped by the digging of a new seaway (The Nieuwe Waterweg) Rotterdam was rid of acces problems caused by the silting of the river and started receiving ever bigger ships with cargo for/from the booming Ruhrgebiet in Germany. Port related trade and industry skyrocketed, and the city started to draw lots of migrants from the then poor Brabant province, for whom the southern part of the city was constructed. At the turn of the twentieth century Rotterdam was well under way to become the largest economic centre in The Netherlands. It was between then and the second world war that large prestigious construction works were undertaken, in part to show off the new found economic pride.
One may also find that visiting this city in spring or summer time is more enjoyable than in winter time, as the Netherlands can be a rainy place and Rotterdam is a city that especially gains a lot of charm when the sun is shining.
City Hall, Coolsingel 40 (Metro: Stadhuis). Mon-Sat: 8:00-17:00. Rotterdam City Hall was built in 1914 in a somewhat exuberant Art Deco style. Erasmus Statue, Grotekerkplein (Metro: Stadhuis or Blaak). The statue of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam stands opposite the Grote of Sint Laurenskerk. De Verwoeste Stad Statue, Plein 1940 (Metro: Beurs). This statue, "The Destroyed City", by the Franco-Belarussian sculptor Ossip Zadkine dates from 1953. Sylvette, Westersingel (Metro: Eendrachtsplein). This large work by Pablo Picasso was erected in 1973. It is one of the elaborations Picasso made based on the portraits of his muse Sylvette David.
Rotterdam ist nach Amsterdam die zweitgrößte Stadt in den Niederlanden und besitzt verkehrstechnisch große Bedeutung durch den größten Seehafen Europas (drittgrößter der Welt). Rotterdam hat 607. 406 Einwohner (Stand 1. Oktober 2010), als Agglomeration Stadsregio Rotterdam ca. 1, 2 Mio. (2006). Sie liegt im Mittel zwei Meter unter Normalnull.
Neben Amsterdam und Den Haag ist Rotterdam eines der kulturellen Zentren der Niederlande. Rotterdam verfügt über eine Universität, mehrere Fachhochschulen, eine Musikhochschule und eine Kunstakademie. Sie ist die führende Industrie- und Handelsstadt der Niederlande. Besonders auffällig ist die Rotterdamer Wolkenkratzer-Silhouette, die sich in den letzten 20 Jahren entwickelt hat.
Description above from the Wikipedia, licensed under CC-BY-SA full list of contributors
here.
