3200 visitors for Open Monumentendag Hilversum
The 34the edition of Open Monumentendag in Hilversum attracted about 3,200 visitors to the 31 monuments that were open to the public on 12 and 13 september. The visitor numbers where considerably lower than previous years due to the fact that many of the monuments could receive smaller groups because of Corona measures. For the majority of the monuments, reservations had to be made in advance, which made spontaneous visits less possible than usual for Open Monumentendag.
Escpecially popular were the Zwaluwenberg, the tower of Wolfsdreuvik in the Smithuyserbos, the AVRO building, the Town Hall and the Chapel. But the cemeteries, the Service Station, the schools and the Tribune also attracted a lot of visitors. Due to limitation in the number of visitors, some monuments were fully booked at an early stage. Many tried to get tickets by email of telephone, but unfortunatly were disappointed.
New this year were perfomances in a number of monuments, intended to create a special experience of the building. In collaboration with the Dudok Festival, four artist were selected to perform in the MCO, the library, the town hall and the Grote Kerk. Visitors at the perfomances, which also had to be registered in advance, were very enthousiastic about this new addition to Open Monumentendag.
The organization of Open Monumentendag looks back on a succesfull event, for which it was uncertain for a long time whether it could take place and in what wat. Patrica Alkhoven, director of the Dudok Architecture Center: “We are very pleased that the monument owners, despite the extra corona measures, participated so enthusiastically and espcially that so many volunteers were on their feet organizing all activities in and around the monuments.”
