World Heritage Van Nelle Factory - Rotterdam

A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014, the Van Nelle Factory has won praise and admiration from the very beginning. Brinkman and Van der Vlugt's design is a classic example of New Building, a twentieth-century architectural movement. Director Kees van der Leeuw commissioned a high-profile factory building that had to be entirely above ground to create light, air and space. And high-profile it was when construction was completed in 1931: it was called "a poem in steel and glass", and renowned architect and urban planner Le Corbusier called it "Of a purity, so unconditionally pure".

Not only was the building itself progressive, the focus on the welfare of the workers was also progressive. Sports fields for relaxation, a factory garden during lunch breaks and modern, hygienic sanitary facilities were unprecedented. Workers went from washing their hands in a tub once a week to showering in the factory every day. The factory produced coffee, tea and tobacco.

The factory can be visited with a guided tour.