Bouw Museum Boymans

When construction started on the current Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen building at Museumpark in Rotterdam, George L. Theijssen (1890-1948), then Chief Technical Officer at the Rotterdam Public Works Department, was there to film the entire process. Six episodes, filmed between 1932 and 1935, highlight the various aspects of construction. From the draughtsmen working on the design to the assembly of the spire and the payment of salaries to construction workers, we slowly witness the Boijmans we know today come alive.

Theijssen’s daughter and son handed the six reels of cinefilm and 19 black-and-white slides to Coert Ebbinge Wubben in February 1970. Ebbinge Wubben, who was director of the Boijmans Museum at the time, handed the material to the Rotterdam City Archive – where R.A.D. Renting had started to establish a Rotterdam film archive. This is where the film reels found their place and were merged into a single film.

Recently, every single frame of the 16mm reels was scanned, which means that this unique document of a piece of Rotterdam history can now, for the very first time, be shown on the big screen – almost 90 years after Theijssen’s camera filmed the completion of the currently closed museum. Perhaps this will help us bide our time until the museum reopens.

– Koen de Rooij

The screening on Friday 27 January will be accompanied by a performance from jazz trio Martijn Hak, Jonas Nieuwenbroek and Juriaan de Kok.