Restoration of the Laurenskerk

The Laurenskerk was badly damaged by the bombing of May 1940, though the spire itself remained largely intact. The church had only recently been restored. In June 1940 a committee of architects and experts in building conservation was convened to study the condition of three important structures: the Laurenskerk, Schielandshuis and Delftsche Poort. On 9 September the committee reported that it was aesthetically and technically possible to repair the spire and church, but restoration would be very expensive. Rotterdam possesses so few monuments, and the Laurenskerk can become such an important and valuable point in the cityscape that its restoration can therefore already be considered of immense importance. After the rubble had been cleared and the damaged buildings demolished, the spire and ruins of the church stood isolated on the empty wasteland. The Reconstruction Plan envisaged that the church would be incorporated into the urban fabric, as the expensive land around the church was popular. Van Traa, who drew up the Basic Plan, saw the church as an obstacle. He would have preferred to demolish it, just like Schielandshuis and Witte Huis…

In June 1940 a committee of architects and experts in building conservation was convened to study the condition of three important structures: the Laurenskerk, Schielandshuis and Delftsche Poort.

After the war various ideas circulated about the Laurenskerk. Some people wanted to leave it as a ruin, as a reminder of the destruction of the city. And there was a rather shocking proposal by J.J.P. Oud to restore just the spire and to build a new, contemporary church behind it next to the railway viaduct. He wanted to preserve the grave slabs in the nave and include a model of the old church to create space for commemoration. Oud: I imagine that, in this way, one could make, in the centre of Rotterdam, a consecrated memorial. It will appear as an oasis in this district. A place into which one can retreat from the bustle of the city, where one can more deeply reflect on preventing the misery of war than one could in the Laurenskerk, rebuilt in its former style. On the forecourt around the church, Oud had reserved space for the sculpture Destroyed City by Zadkine. One complication was that the spire was the property of the city, while the nave belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church.

In the end, it was decided to restore, or more accurately rebuild, the church. The central government supported the restoration financially by vouching for 90% of the total cost of 8 million guilders. Queen Juliana visited Construction Day in 1952 and laid the first stone with the words:

Many new milestones were celebrated over the following years: the repaired transept in 1958, the swinging bells in 1960, and the carillon in 1961. Restoration architect Johan Coenraad Meischke (1889-1966) did not live to see the work finished. His closest colleague and successor J.W.C. Besemer received the Laurens Medal for his work. The restoration of the church was eventually completed in December 1968 and was officially inaugurated in the presence of Princess Beatrix and Prince Claus. To mark its one hundred and fiftieth anniversary, the Rotterdam company Pakhuismeesteren donated two bronze doors by Italian artist Giaomo Manzù that depict the theme of war and peace.

Now that the church had been restored to its former glory, critics took aim at the subordinate position of the building and at the reconstruction of the immediate surroundings.