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Market on the Binnenrotte
The best-known market in Rotterdam is the weekly market at Binnenrotte, with 465 stalls and an average of 70,000 visitors.
The city council is seriously studying the possibility of relocating the weekly market to the strip immediately to the east of the railway viaduct, from Lombardkade to Hoogstraat. Across Hoogstraat (how?), the weekly market would then “fan out” over the gap between Mariniersweg and the viaduct, opposite the Twaalfprovinciënhuis. At the moment, this gap is something of a mud-bank with lush flora and fauna. Wild ducks find a pleasant abode here among the pools and water plants. So much must be done before a market can actually be held there.
Het Vrije Volk 12-11-1957
The market at Binnenrotte in 1961. The site of the future Central Library is occupied by the emergency building for the Instrument Maker’s School.
AD: Archive of Het Vrije Volk
Official opening of the weekly market on Binnenrotte, 26 August 1958.
Rotterdam City Archives, GW-13856
Street vendor on the Binnenrotte market in 1958 with, in the background, The Twelve Provinces shopping centre still in all its glory.
Photo Ary Groeneveld, Municipal Archive of Rotterdam1200 stalls
The best-known market in Rotterdam, and the second biggest in the Netherlands, is the weekly market at Binnenrotte, with 465 stalls and an average of 70,000 visitors. Although it seems as if this market was always there, it only opened on 26 August 1958, bringing the weekly market back to the city centre. Up until 1904 the public market was held on Botersloot. Then it moved to Goudsesingel, where at its peak it attracted some 1200(!) stalls. After the bombardment it was the turn of Noordplein. The market was well organized in the city in the midst of reconstruction. It became a fresh, orderly market, with six-metre-wide service lanes between the stalls, carefully grouped according to textiles, food and other goods. The “jumble sale” also moved from Noordplein. Beneath the spine of the railway viaduct the sellers of second-hand goods displayed their wares. For rummagers this is an attractive world. The market for second-hand books had already moved to Nieuwemarkt.
Up until 1904 the public market was held on Botersloot. Then it moved to Goudsesingel, where at its peak it attracted some 1200(!) stalls.
Market on the Binnenrotte.
Photo J. Roovers, archive Voet - C0046Entire district full of expectation
The district between Goudsesingel and the railway viaduct is buzzing with hopeful expectation. The arrival of the market is the subject on everybody’s lips. Is that a surprise? “We’ll have an attraction, something to draw people here. Since the failure of the Twaalfprovinciënhuis, we have clearly been deprived of that,” says Mr G. van der Kaaden, spokesman for Pannekoekstraat. “We expect to belong more to the centre than we have up to now.”
Not only are the shopkeepers on Pannekoekstraat happy, but their colleagues on Nieuwe Markt and Hoogstraat (especially those along the rather lifeless final stretch) even more so. They expect a significant upturn in the retail climate — a highly welcome upturn.
Het Vrije Volk 22-8-1958
The market on Binnenrotte, with in the background the Twaalfprovinciënhuis shopping complex.
Photo J. Roovers, archive Voet - C0569Major impetus
The market on Binnenrotte was a success and gave a major impetus to the eastern flank of the city centre. In the 1970s it was ultimately decided not to construct the megalomaniac traffic intersection beside Oudehaven. The area received fresh impetus in the 1980s with the metro station, the new Central Library, the Cube Dwellings and the development around Oudehaven. Construction of the railway tunnel caused disruption, but it improved the urban context. The Market Hall completed in 2014 has added yet another attraction to Binnenrotte.
In the 1970s it was ultimately decided not to construct the megalomaniac traffic intersection beside Oudehaven.
- Location
- Binnenrotte, Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Subjects
- General