The building

All departments had their own separate construction, yet they formed a coherent whole. The complex was built in the neo-renaissance style using one colour for the bricks and one type of natural stone for the finish. The main building, housing the main entrance, the main hall and library, and professional departments, is located on the Mauritskade side. The museum and theater have their own entrance on the Linnaeusstraat. A low building with the shape of a semicircle connects the two buildings. At the corner of the Linnaeusstraat and Mauritskade is a large bell tower. Imposing features of are the octagonal Marble Hall, the large Auditorium, and the museum’s Light Hall.

The building is richly adorned with decorative features and symbols referring to different cultures of the world and the colonial history of the Netherlands. For the decoration on and inside the building a special "Commission for Symbolism" was established. An abundance of sculptures, reliefs, woodcarving and wrought ironwork depict trade, industry, overseas relations, founders of the Institute and the work it conducts. More than ten sculptors were commissioned to do this.

In the Second World War parts of the building were used by the German police (Grune Polizei). Right after the end of the war the Institute was used for housing Canadian troops.

1950 – Royal Tropical Institute

The decolonization period resulted in a broadening of the Institute’s mission, from studying the “Dutch Overseas Territories”, to the tropics in general, including “cultural, economic and hygienic issue”.
 
In 1950, two years after the independence of Indonesia, the name of the Institute was changed to Royal Tropical Institute (Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen -KIT).

Expansion and restoration

During the last decades the building has been restored and expanded. From 1967 the main hall, the library and offices were dealt with first, followed by the museum. New additions were a theatre), Tropenmuseum Junior and new exhibition hall. A separate project was the construction of a hotel next to the Institute in 1976. Since 1996 parts of the Institute’s activities are also housed in the former Muiderkerk on the Linnaeusstraat.

Literature

- The Royal tropical Institute, an Amsterdam landmark, by: J. Woudsma, 1990 KIT Press
- Van welgeordende planterijen, architectuur en natuur langs tramlijn 9, door: Marion Kuipers – Verbuijs, Amsterdam Open Monumentendag 1999, Gemeentelijk Bureau Monumentenzorg

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