The fire of the Coolsingel Hospital (1961) Louis van Roode
In 1961, artist Louis van Roode made a mosaic in the hall of the municipal hospital Dijkzigt. It was a dark and macabre tableau that The fire of the Coolsingel Hospital imagined. The old, majestic and classical hospital was built in 1848 by Willem Nicolaas Rose and radiated a proud boulevard allure on the Coolsingel. The 1940 bombing damaged the building beyond repair, leaving only the façade untouched. In 2005 the tableau was dismantled, its asbestos plates were removed and parts were hung back in the new entrance of Erasmus MC. Due to the demolition of the building, the mosaic had to move again. Since 2018, it hangs at the entrance of the Nd building.
During the Reconstruction period, the Rotterdam artist Louis van Roode (Delft, 1914 - Rotterdam, 1964) often worked on commission for the new architecture. He made many murals and mosaics, which adorned modern architecture, but which also told their own story about nature, culture, man and the cosmos. Major works by his hand have been preserved in Rotterdam, but also in Vlissingen, Eindhoven and The Hague. He can rightly be called one of the greatest wall artists of his time.