Fotomuseum buys monument building in Rotterdam with €38 mil. donation

Thanks to a 38 million euro donation from the foundation Droom en Daad, the Nederlands Fotomuseum has bought a warehouse classified as a historic monument. The Rotterdam building will become the museum's new location. The photography museum hopes to finish renovations and open in the new spot in September 2025, director Birgit Donker told the Volkskrant.

“This is our long-cherished dream: a striking own building to celebrate photography from amateur to art photography and everything around it,” Donker said. Soon, the Fotomuseum will be housed in the Santos, a national monument from 1903 on Katendrecht on the Rijnhaven in Rotterdam-Zuid.

Everything happened very quickly. The German company Stilwerk was renovating Santos, a warehouse of the former N.V. Blaauwhodenveem that stored coffee and species shipped from the Brazilian port city of Santos. But last month, the company decided to cancel its plans to turn the building into a design department store because the cost-benefits ratio had become out of balance.

Droom en Daad, which was planning to rent a piece of the warehouse for cultural activities, knew the Fotomuseum was looking for a new location due to increasing rents at its current one. The philanthropic foundation, which annually spends millions of euros on art and culture in Rotterdam, decided to step in. “Droom en Daad co-financed the expansion of our museum in 2021 and supports our Hall of Fame for Dutch photography,” Donker said. “We had been talking to them about new construction for some time.”

Stilwerk’s canceled plans turned into an opportunity for the Fotomuseum. Barely a month ago, Donker and Droom en Daad deputy director Laura Dufour went to look at the warehouse. It turned out to be perfect, and the deal was done.

Droom en Daad donated 38 million euros to the Fotomuseum to purchase and furnish Santos. By September 2025, the Fotomuseum hopes to open in its new location, featuring nine floors for exhibitions, a depot with over 6 million objects, a photo book shop, a library, and a restaurant on the roof with a panoramic view of Rotterdam.

“€38 million is really very generous,” Donker said. “The only condition of Droom en Daad is that we stay in Rotterdam.”