Weena is a street with many

highrise A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...

s in the center of

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, Netherlands. It defines the Rotterdam skyline. The street of about 1 kilometer length leads east-west from

Hofplein Hofplein is a major public town square in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The square lies on a crossing of the Weena, the Schiekade and the Coolsingel. In the center of the square a large fountain is situated. Near the square lay the former Rotterd ...

to Beukelsdijk.

History

Weena was named after the Hof van Wena, a 12th-century

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

which stood at the site of the former Hofplein Station. The building was destroyed in 1426. The name remained in use to designate the area just outside Hofpoort, the northern city gate. In 1854 the names ''Weenastraat'' and ''Weenaplein'' were given to an existing street and square in the area, following city architect Willem Nicolaas Rose´s design. After the bombing of Rotterdam in 1940 the area was demolished. In 1949 the city Government gave the name Weena to a street through the still wide open terrain. The construction of the Groothandelsgebouw (1953),

Rotterdam Centraal Station Rotterdam Centraal railway station () is the main railway station of the city Rotterdam in South Holland, Netherlands. The station received an average of 112,000 passengers daily in 2019. The current station building, located at Station Square, ...

(1957) and the Hilton Rotterdam (1963) transformed Weena into an icon of the postwar reconstruction of the city. Major new developments followed in the 1990s and in the early 21st century. Rotterdam skyline

In 2007 Weena was named the most air-polluted street in the Netherlands.

Places of interest

Rotterdam Centraal station Rotterdam Centraal railway station () is the main railway station of the city Rotterdam in South Holland, Netherlands. The station received an average of 112,000 passengers daily in 2019. The current station building, located at Station Square, ...

is located on ''Stationsplein'', the plaza which is accesible from Weena. * Groothandelsgebouw, a National Monument on the corner of Weena and Stationsplein. One of the first major buildings to spur economic development after the German bombing of Rotterdam. * Weenacenter, a 104-meter high residential tower built in 1992 * Milleniumtoren, a 131-meter high office tower with hotel. *

Delftse Poort Delftse Poort ( en, Delft Gate Building) is a twin-tower skyscraper complex at Weena 505 next to the Rotterdam Centraal railway station in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Tower I is with 41 stories, and Tower II is with 25 stories. Until May 2009 ...

, a twin-tower skyscraper that was the tallest building in the Netherlands between 1991 and 2005. * Hilton Rotterdam on Weena 10, declared National Monument in 2016, by architect Hugh Maaskant * Weenatunnel, an underground passage built in 1951 * Seated woman, Reclining figure and Standing figure, three sculptures by Willem de Kooning Rotterdam 034

References

Streets in Rotterdam {{SouthHolland-geo-stub