Rotterdam › Places and landmarks
Laurenskerk
Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk
The great late-Gothic church of the city, burnt out in 1940 and rebuilt, the last medieval building of the centre.
Photo: Michielverbeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk was built from 1449 to 1525, the parish church of the medieval town, with a heavy square tower. In the bombing of 1940 it burned out, but its walls and tower stood, and it was rebuilt by 1968. It is the only medieval building left in the centre of Rotterdam.
Inside are big organs and the tombs of Dutch admirals. On the square in front stands Hendrick de Keyser’s statue of Erasmus, born in Rotterdam, reading a book; cast in 1622, it is the oldest bronze statue in the Netherlands. Visit it in 3D ›
More in Rotterdam
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.
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.
De Verwoeste StadOssip Zadkine’s bronze figure with a hole torn through its body, the memorial to the bombing of 1940.
LijnbaanEurope’s first shopping street built for people on foot, opened in 1953 in the rebuilt centre.
EuromastThe tower in Het Park by the Maas, built for the Floriade of 1960 and raised to 185 metres in 1970.
The portThe biggest port in Europe, which runs some 40 kilometres from the city to the North Sea.