Instant Cities: Rotterdam

Instant Rotterdam BETA

Explore or race by bike, on foot or on horseback through Rotterdam, among the towers on the Maas!

Ride through the centre of Rotterdam in 3D, rebuilt after 1940, past the Coolsingel, the Markthal, the cube houses, the Oude Haven and the Laurenskerk, with every building from OpenStreetMap.

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Free · no account · works on PC, tablet and phone

What there is to do

The real Rotterdam

Wander among about 3,300 buildings rebuilt in 3D from OpenStreetMap, from the Coolsingel to the Oude Haven and down to the Erasmusbrug. More of the city is to come.

A city of new buildings

Ride under the Markthal’s arch of flats, past Piet Blom’s cube houses and the Potlood, see the Witte Huis of 1898 and the Laurenskerk, and find Zadkine’s De Verwoeste Stad by the Leuvehaven.

A race: Blaak and Markthal

Race down the Coolsingel, along the Blaak past the Markthal to the cube houses, up the Binnenrotte and back along the Hoogstraat past the Laurenskerk.

This is Rotterdam

Rotterdam lies on the Nieuwe Maas, where the Rhine and the Maas run to the North Sea, in the province of South Holland. On 14 May 1940 German bombers burned out its old centre in one afternoon, and the city rebuilt it as a place to try out new buildings: the Lijnbaan, the cube houses, the Markthal and the Erasmusbrug. Around it lies the biggest port in Europe.

  • The bombing of 14 May 1940, and the modern city that rose from it
  • The Erasmusbrug, the white Swan over the Maas
  • Piet Blom’s cube houses and the Markthal’s arch of flats
  • The biggest port in Europe, out to the North Sea
  • Erasmus, born in Rotterdam, and Feyenoord

About the city

Where Rotterdam lies in the Netherlands Amsterdam Utrecht Delft Rotterdam
Rotterdam in the Netherlands, whose capital is Amsterdam (the square).

Places, elements and landmarks

City HallRotterdam’s town hall of 1920 on the Coolsingel, one of the few buildings in the centre that came through the bombing of 1940. Erasmus BridgeThe white cable-stayed bridge over the Maas, nicknamed the Swan, which became the sign of the new Rotterdam. Witte HuisThe white office building of 1898 by the Oude Haven, one of the first high-rise buildings in Europe. Oude HavenRotterdam’s oldest harbour, full of old sailing barges, with terraces along its quays. Cube housesPiet Blom’s yellow houses tilted on their corners, a forest of cubes on top of a footbridge over the Blaak. MarkthalA horseshoe arch of flats over a covered market, with the biggest artwork in the Netherlands on its ceiling. LaurenskerkThe great late-Gothic church of the city, burnt out in 1940 and rebuilt, the last medieval building of the centre. SchielandshuisA 17th-century classical palace among the towers, which came through the bombing of 1940. Maritiem MuseumThe maritime museum on the Leuvehaven, with old cranes, a lightship and working boats moored outside.

All 13 places and landmarks

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Play Instant Rotterdam

Still in development: expect some rough edges.