Botanical Conservatory (Kunsthal)

The Kunsthal is the exhibition hall in Rotterdam's Museumpark, and it does not contain a botanical conservatory. What the place does offer is a striking building, a changing programme of temporary exhibitions and a setting in one of the city's most interesting parks, so it makes sense to describe what is really there and how the garden setting fits into a visit.

The Museumpark is a landscaped park in the centre of Rotterdam, laid out in the early 1990s around the museums that stand in it. It was designed with the involvement of the architect Rem Koolhaas and his firm OMA, who also designed the Kunsthal, and the landscape architect Yves Brunier, who died young soon after the work. The park links several cultural institutions, among them the Kunsthal, the Boijmans Van Beuningen Depot, the Natural History Museum Rotterdam and the Nieuwe Instituut, and it offers lawns, paths, ponds and trees in the middle of a dense city. Its design is deliberately unconventional, with a mix of formal and informal elements.

The Kunsthal itself has no permanent collection. Exhibitions on art, photography, design, history and science come and go, and the building is arranged around a series of ramps and levels that lead visitors from one space to another. Its mix of materials and angles is typical of Koolhaas, and many visitors find the architecture as interesting as the shows. There is a restaurant and a shop, and a garden on the side of the building where visitors can take a break. Opening hours are normally Tuesday to Sunday, with closures on certain holidays, and tickets should be booked online for a set time and paid for by card, so check the current rules before you go.

Around the park, other highlights of Rotterdam are within reach: the Markthal, the Cube Houses, the Erasmus Bridge, the Euromast, Delfshaven, the Sint-Laurenskerk and Rotterdam Central Station. The city was largely destroyed in the bombing of May 1940 and rebuilt, and it is known for its modern and experimental architecture.

Visitors looking for plants will find the best of them in the park and in the city's other gardens, and not in the Kunsthal itself. The venue suits art and architecture lovers and those who want a green setting between cultural visits. Allow one to two hours for the exhibitions, and more if you stroll through the park.