Uitkijkpunt De Trap (Observation point The Stairs) was opened today. It is right next to the Centraal Station Rotterdam (Central Station Rotterdam).

De Trap (The Stairs) in Rotterdam (Image by FaceMePLS at Flickr.com under license CC BY 2.0).

Burgemeester (mayor) Ahmed Aboutaleb opened the construction today for the public. It attracted a huge menigte (crowd), and within one and a half hours, already 2000 people had climbed De Trap!

Why was it built? This year, it is exactly 75 years ago that the wederopbouw (reconstruction) of Rotterdam started, in 1941. On May 14, 1940, the Germans bombarded the historische (historic, old) city of Rotterdam, and many gebouwen (buildings) caught fire and also burnt down. 650-900 people lost their lives, 80.000 lost their homes. The Germans wanted to force the Dutch to give up, which they did the day after.  

Rotterdam after the bombardement of 1940.

The wederopbouw began already in the same year, and many monuments were built, some of which are Rijksmonumenten (National Monument) today. This also explains why Rotterdam has an extremely modern inner city nowadays.

De Trap leads to the roof of the Groot Handelsgebouw (Great Trade Building), one of the first buildings. Around 1000 people can be on the roof at the same time. From the roof, you have a great view over the entire city and its skyline!

The 29 meter (90 ft) high steigerconstructie (scaffolding construction) with 180 traptreden (stair steps) only stands for a certain time: it will be removed on June 12. So if you want to visit, you have to be quick!

This video shows you how this construction was built:

Would you like to visit De Trap?

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