Rotterdam Audio Tours

On May 14, 1940, the Luftwaffe bombed Rotterdam nearly to rubble. About 900 people died and 80,000 were left homeless in a city that had existed for nearly six centuries. The reconstruction began almost immediately and never really stopped. Where Amsterdam preserved and celebrated its old city centre, Rotterdam simply built new things and let them be excellent. The Lijnbaan, Europe's first pedestrian shopping street, opened in 1952. The Cube Houses by Piet Blom arrived in 1984. The Erasmus Bridge, a swan-shaped cable-stayed span, crossed the Nieuwe Maas in 1996. The Markthal, a residential building shaped like a hollow arch with a painted interior ceiling, opened in 2014. Each decade added something that nobody in Amsterdam would have permitted.

The port is the largest in Europe and the seventh-largest container port in the world, handling 40 million tonnes of goods annually.

Parts of the city sit more than six metres below sea level. In 2011, Rotterdam became the western terminus for China-Europe freight rail services. The city has 38 skyscrapers and over 350 high-rises. More than half the population has a parent born outside the Netherlands, and 180 nationalities are represented. In a country often associated with homogeneity, Rotterdam is a genuine exception.