The Museum Park is located on the former estate of the van Hoboken family, who lived in the villa that now houses the Natural History Museum Rotterdam. The park was designed from 1927 to the design of city architect Witteveen and redesigned in the 90s by OMA, the office of Rem Koolhaas that also designed the Kunsthal.
The park has a romantic character, partly due to the winding paths and the planting of various trees and shrubs. One of the eye-catchers is the old poplar (Populus canadensis). There are visible burrows in the trunk, which can be very valuable for various tree-dwelling animal species such as the bat.
Another striking tree is the old Oriental plane (Platanus orientalis) on the east side of the park.
Did you know?
You just walked across the water garage! A large water storage facility has been constructed under the adjacent Museum Park garage: one of the solutions to prevent flooding in the center of the city, now that the changing climate often results in heavy rainfall. Previously, the water in the city center could not drain properly during heavy downpours.
When the canals and sewers in the city center can no longer process the amount of rainwater, the underground water storage will temporarily absorb the excess rainwater. It can hold up to 10 million liters of water! As soon as it stops raining, the storage is pumped back into the sewer.
In the past, water from the sewage system (rainwater mixed with waste water) ended up in the canals. This resulted in odor nuisance and fish death. That rarely happens now. The water quality in the canals has therefore improved considerably.
