A new state-of-the-art home for the Dutch National Museum of Photography’s collection of more than 6.5 million objects
On February 7, 2026, the Nederlands Fotomuseum, the National Museum of Photography, will open its doors in the recently renovated Santos warehouse, a national monument located on Rotterdam's Rijnhaven. With over 6.5 million objects, the museum has one of the largest museum collections of photography in the world. In this monumental building, cultural heritage, architecture, and a contemporary museum presentation come together to create an international meeting place for photography.
The Nederlands Fotomuseum is the National Museum of Photography of the Netherlands: it collects, preserves, studies, and presents Dutch photographic heritage. The museum occupies a key position in Dutch photography. Photography was embraced early on in the Netherlands as an art form and as a means of capturing modern society. After the Second World War, a socially engaged style developed that became internationally influential, while contemporary photographers explore new artistic directions.
The opening in the Santos warehouse heralds a new chapter for the most important centre for photography in the Netherlands. In the nine-story state-of-the-art building—one of the best-preserved historic warehouses in the country—visitors will not only have access to masterpieces from the national collection, but also a unique glimpse behind the scenes in the open storage rooms and restoration workshops. This new museum houses the Gallery of Honour of Dutch Photography, temporary exhibitions and educational spaces. It also has a library with the largest collection of photo books in Europe, a darkroom, open studio spaces, a café and a restaurant with a panoramic view of the Rotterdam skyline. The move to Santos was made possible thanks to a generous donation from the Droom en Daad Foundation.
The collection and the studio spaces are located in the heart of the building, spread over two floors. Glass walls allow visitors to take a look behind the scenes: the open depots display a selection from the archive, together with special and remarkable objects from the collection, while the visitor can also see specialists at work on restoration and conservation in the studios.
The Gallery of Honour of Dutch Photography shows the development of photography in the Netherlands – from the invention of photography in 1839 to the current age. These rooms display 99 special photographs that have been chosen for their social and artistic impact and include masterpieces by Anton Corbijn, Dana Lixenberg, Violette Cornelius, Ed van der Elsken, Paul Huf, Rineke Dijkstra, and Erwin Olaf. The 100th work in the exhibition will be chosen by visitors. The display within the Gallery of Honour is undergoing a transformation tailored to the new building.
Rotterdam in Focus: The City in Photographs 1843 – Now offers an impressive overview of photography of the city from 1843 to the present day. More than 300 photos unfold the development of photography over a period of some 180 years. They were taken by both professional and amateur photographers. Iconic photographers such as Hans Aarsman, Iwan Baan, Eva Besnyö, Henri Berssenbrugge, Johann Georg Hameter, Helena van der Kraan, Jannes Linders, Cas Oorthuys, Otto Snoek and others show how a changing Rotterdam constantly challenges us to find new ways of looking, observing, and photographing. The exhibition includes work from leading collections, including those of the Nederlands Fotomuseum, the Stadsarchief Rotterdam, the Dutch Royal Collections, and the Maria Austria Institute. The exhibition has been curated by guest curators Frits Gierstberg and Joop de Jong and will be on display until May 24, 2026. The book of the same name will be published by nai010.
The exhibition Awakening in Blue: An Ode to Cyanotype celebrates the timeless beauty of one of the oldest and most recognisable photographic techniques: cyanotype. The deep blue medium is known for its artisanal character and its slow, direct working method. In addition to rare, early blueprints, the exhibition features work by fifteen contemporary artists. They breathe new life into this nineteenth-century technique, combining it with new media and a variety of materials. Their work explores current themes such as ecology, colonialism and the body as a living archive. The exhibition is designed by MAISON the FAUX, a Dutch interdisciplinary collective known for their groundbreaking work at the intersection of fashion, performance, and installation art. The exhibition runs until June 7, 2026.
The ground floor will be an inviting meeting place with a café, library, museum shop and reception desk. Visitors are welcome here even without a ticket and can walk in freely. In this ‘living room for photography’, they can meet each other, have a drink, read, and watch the short film that Photographer of the Netherlands Marwan Magroun (Rotterdam, 1985) made especially for the reopening of the Nederlands Fotomuseum.
The monumental Santos warehouse was built between 1901 and 1902 by Rotterdam architects J.P. Stok Wzn and J.J. Kanters, and is one of the best-preserved and most beautiful examples of early 20th-century warehouse architecture. The building was originally designed as a storage facility for coffee from the Brazilian port city of Santos and has been listed as a national monument since 2000. The renovation and expansion of the building was carried out by the German architectural firm RENNER HAINKE WIRTH ZIRN ARCHITEKTEN in collaboration with Rotterdam-based WDJARCHITECTEN and realized by Burgy Bouwbedrijf.
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- Heidi Vandamme
- Communicatieadviseur | PR Consultant
- hvandamme@nederlandsfotomuseum.nl
- +31 (0)6-2953 2686
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