Displays and rare books were urgently evacuated from the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam overnight as unusually high rainfall caused water and sewage to seep into the basement. The threat of flooding to the museum early this morning was “very serious”, the deputy director, Ina Klaassen, told The Art Newspaper. Klaassen asked the fire brigade to pump water out of an overflowing pool in the museum’s garden, which abuts the building, but this proved impossible because the surrounding ground is too saturated with water.
The basement display in the pavilion building, which houses a collection of archaeological artefacts and design objects from 1300 to 1900, had to be moved to a higher floor, while the library storage, which includes some rare books, was also evacuated. None of the objects are believed to have been damaged. Only the areas directly affected by the flooding were closed off and most of the art museum remained open to visitors. But there are concerns that if further heavy rain falls over the weekend, the situation could get worse. Even the museum’s ground floor lies two metres below sea level.
The main galleries date from 1935, when there were fewer buildings in the area, which allowed for better drainage. There are already plans afoot for a new storage facility that would withstand flooding to be built on the museum grounds. Construction is due to start this autumn, to be completed in two years.
