Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam
We managed to find the Van Nelle Factory hidden in a rather sleepy part of Rotterdam. The Van Nelle Factory is part of the Netherlands list of UNESCO World Heritage sites but I have never heard about this place. I found it rather odd that a factory of all places would be named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For man man made structures I expect very old structures several centuries old would be in the list. For natural sites, they would usually be places with unique and beautiful scenery. The Van Nelle doesn’t follow that and I guess it is just another category which I don’t have much interest in. Anyway, the Van Nelle Factory is not even a hundred years old having been completed in the year 1931. That is quite recent as far as UNESCO sites are concerned but I guess it is the importance of the building not how old it is which makes it part of the list.
Outside the Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam
The Van Nelle Factory is prized for the design of the building. Indeed looking at the building itself, it doesn’t look like a factory at all. It looks like an office building. The factory has a lot of glass windows, which I guess you would associate with more recent structures like office buildings. This was built almost a century ago and I it was way ahead of its time. I guess that is still the case even now, since I don’t think new factories are even designed that way now. Van Nelle was a company manufacturing cigarettes back then, they then diversified into other things like gum.
Van Nelle doesn’t occupy the factory anymore and instead it is used as office space. There was a very unwelcoming gate here and I couldn’t figure out how to go about visiting this place. I dared to get shot trespassing by asking security about this place. Turns out, one can’t just come and visit the place. One needs to book a guided tour to be able to see beyond the gate. The security guard was nice enough to allow me to take a few shots within the gates but of course not too far inside. It was a disappointment for us not to be able to visit the place. We were only able to take pictures from outside which doesn’t really say much about the beauty of the place. There was another tourist who parked outside the gates taking photos as well. Seems like we weren’t the only ones disappointed. I was met with glares back in the car since we went all the way here for nothing. Hopefully, the next destination won’t be as bad.
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