With around 1.8 million visitors each year, Open Monument Day (OMD) is considered one of the largest cultural events in the Netherlands. Municipalities across the country have been taking part for 40 years.

On a designated weekend in September, various monuments open their doors, including the TU/e campus this year. “From a cultural and historical perspective, our campus is simply a very special place,” says Olga Coolen, head of Studium Generale Eindhoven (SG), who is involved in organizing the event on behalf of TU/e.

A return

In the 40 years that OMD has existed, the TU/e campus has only been included in the program once before. That was 20 years ago, when the university celebrated its 50th anniversary. This year, TU/e turns 70 – and has just gained five more monuments.

The municipality of Eindhoven recently designated the Auditorium, Ceres and Gemini buildings, as well as two works of art (‘Vloerreliëfs’ and ‘Vloermozaïek’), as municipal monuments. This prompted the OMD organizers to work toward bringing TU/e back onto the program.

The story of the campus

Visitors on September 13 will have the chance to see the campus from a different perspective and learn about the ideas behind the design of the TU/e grounds. “That’s obviously interesting for people from outside the university, but especially for TU/e students and staff as well,” Coolen says.

“People quickly get used to their study or work environment without knowing how it all came about,” she explains. “Take the Intro, which just took place. New students learn where the buildings are and where to go for what, but they learn little to nothing about the history and architecture.”

“The idea is to really tell visitors the story of the campus, its buildings and its art,” adds René Erven, who is involved in organizing OMD on behalf of Architectuurcentrum Eindhoven.

Alongside and through the buildings

During OMD, visitors can explore the campus in several ways. “But the highlight, of course, is the guided tours,” Erven concludes.

The route starts at the Zwarte Doos and takes visitors past various works of art and buildings, accompanied by plenty of stories from a guide. “Of course, Auditorium, Ceres and Gemini are part of the route, now that they have just received monument status,” Erven says.

Visitors can also go inside Atlas and walk to Auditorium via the footbridge. “The footbridges between the buildings are so iconic for TU/e that we simply had to include them in the route.”

Those who would rather explore the campus on their own – or who haven’t seen enough after the guided tour – can discover more using the special information booklets. “They cover more buildings and objects than the guided tour does, along with all the background information,” Erven says. “In addition, old photographs and film footage of and about TU/e will be shown in the Zwarte Doos.”

A litmus test

Whether TU/e will be included in the OMD program every year from now on, Coolen and Erven aren’t ready to say. They agree that the campus deserves a permanent place on the program, but opening the buildings on weekends requires quite a bit of organization.

“We’re very happy to be part of the program this year. And we can use this edition as a litmus test to see how much interest there is in this kind of guided tour,” Coolen says.

“If there is a lot of interest, then not only annual but perhaps even monthly guided tours could be a good idea.”

The guided campus tours are free to attend, but registration is required. Studium Generale is organizing three guided tours specifically for students. Coolen: “I’ll be giving these tours myself, together with my predecessor, Lucas Asselbergs.” The tours by SG are already fully booked, but students as well as non-students can still book a tour through the OMD website.