Dutch Photo Museum

Yes — I went too, and I was genuinely blown away by the building. The new home of the Nederlands Fotomuseum in the Santos Warehouse is extraordinary in scale and ambition. The first floor is where it really sings: beautifully curated, dark and immersive, with illuminated panels guiding you through 99 images from the collection. It felt calm, confident, and considered — the kind of exhibition design that lets photography breathe while quietly educating you as you move through it. As you go higher, the building becomes more complex. The upper floors are shared with the working life of the museum — storage, archive, offices, cafés — which is fascinating in principle, but I found the huge LED backlit screens on these levels quite overwhelming. They dominated the space in a way that pulled focus from the photographs themselves. There’s a substantial amount of historical imagery of Rotterdam, which I suspect would land more deeply if you really know the city — at times it felt dense and emotionally demanding. The other artists didn’t quite engage me in the same way as that first floor, though there were moments of real strength. Still, the scale of the project, the seriousness of intent, and the care shown in parts of the curation are impressive. It’s a bold, generous institution, and I genuinely wish it the very best — Rotterdam feels richer for having it.

Just opened. A fantastic selection of NL photos... and at the moment,an interesting Rotterdam themed exhibition of photos. There's a lot to see...so probably difficult to see everything in just one visit. The building is an excellent transformation of the old Rijnhaven Santos warehouse. Restaurant at the top wasn't open when I visited unfortunately...but the rooftop views will be impressive.

We arrived close to the museum’s closing time, so we went in mainly to at least see the entrance and the space. We quickly had coffee at the café and took a look around the shop. The building itself seems to have undergone a careful restoration and feels quite well executed.

The Dutch Photo Museum is located in the Santos Building in Katendrecht. The building was constructed at the beginning of the 20th century and once served as a warehouse for coffee imported from Brazil, which already makes the setting quite special. The museum offers a great collection of photographs showcasing Rotterdam’s history, from the 1850s to the present day. On the top floor, there is a beautiful cyanotype exhibition that is definitely worth taking your time to explore. Overall, I highly recommend visiting this museum if you want to learn more about the history of this marvelous city.

I recently visited the new photography museum in Rotterdam and was truly impressed. The space beautifully blends historic architecture with modern design, creating an inspiring atmosphere for exploring visual art. The exhibitions are thoughtfully curated, diverse, and engaging, making the museum interesting both for photography enthusiasts and casual visitors. It’s definitely a place worth visiting if you appreciate culture and creativity .

Enormous building full of photo,s and the historie of photography enjoy . If you dont like too walk the stairs there is an elevator. The building is an mix of old Factory and modern construction.

Well laid out and really interesting, about photography in general, Netherlands and Rotterdam. Lovely coffee bar and cafe upstairs. Seems well visited (on two visits), but not overly busy and not over crowded. Highly recommended if you have an interest in the art and the history of Rotterdam.

It's a beautiful builder implacability renovated. I don't get however why they put the archive on the 2th end 3th floor since that's about 2/5 of the available floor space. The exhibition was oke there was definitely more possible. Coffee in the lobby also very nice.