Rotterdam is a municipality and city in the Dutch province of South-Holland, situated in the west of The Netherlands and part of the Randstad. The municipality is the second largest in the country (behind Amsterdam), with a population of approximately 600, 000 people. The city has 1. 3 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area.
The port of Rotterdam is the largest in Europe. From 1962 to 2004, it was the world's busiest port; then it was superseded by Shanghai.
Although Rotterdam did well after the middle ages and in the 'Golden Century' - roughly between 1650 and 1750) it was not before the second part of the nineteenth century that the city started to develop itself rapidly. Helped by the digging of a new seaway (The Nieuwe Waterweg) Rotterdam was rid of acces problems caused by the silting of the river and started receiving ever bigger ships with cargo for/from the booming Ruhrgebiet in Germany. Port related trade and industry skyrocketed, and the city started to draw lots of migrants from the then poor Brabant province, for whom the southern part of the city was constructed. At the turn of the twentieth century Rotterdam was well under way to become the largest economic centre in The Netherlands. It was between then and the second world war that large prestigious construction works were undertaken, in part to show off the new found economic pride.
One may also find that visiting this city in spring or summer time is more enjoyable than in winter time, as the Netherlands can be a rainy place and Rotterdam is a city that especially gains a lot of charm when the sun is shining.
City Hall, Coolsingel 40 (Metro: Stadhuis). Mon-Sat: 8:00-17:00. Rotterdam City Hall was built in 1914 in a somewhat exuberant Art Deco style. Erasmus Statue, Grotekerkplein (Metro: Stadhuis or Blaak). The statue of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam stands opposite the Grote of Sint Laurenskerk. De Verwoeste Stad Statue, Plein 1940 (Metro: Beurs). This statue, "The Destroyed City", by the Franco-Belarussian sculptor Ossip Zadkine dates from 1953. Sylvette, Westersingel (Metro: Eendrachtsplein). This large work by Pablo Picasso was erected in 1973. It is one of the elaborations Picasso made based on the portraits of his muse Sylvette David.
Роттерда́м — город и община в Нидерландах. Расположен в провинции Южная Голландия при впадении реки Ньиве-Маас в Северное море. С населением 603 425 жителей (на март 2010) является вторым по количеству жителей городом в Нидерландах после Амстердама. Роттердам входит в состав крупной городской агломерации Рандстад.
Девиз Роттердама — Sterker door strijd («Окреп в борьбе»). Крупный транспортный узел (железные и шоссейные дороги); морской (на Северном море) и речной (река Ньиве-Маас) порты; аэропорт. Центр машиностроения; музеи, театры (оперы и балета, драмы), библиотеки. Ежегодно в конце января в городе проходит международный кинофестиваль.
Порт Роттердама является самым большим в Европе, а с 1962 по 2004 года он являлся самым крупным в мире (в настоящий момент он уступил это звание Шанхаю).
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