Situated in a former industrial district in the southern Dutch city of Maastricht, it?s perhaps fitting that the Bonnefantenmuseum has often been called  a ?viewing factory.? The museum, with its ?E?-shaped plan and distinctive domed tower, is one of the most prominent landmarks along the River Meuse that flows around the city center. Europe?s rich cultural history was a key impetus for architect Aldo Rossi?s design, which employed a number of historical architectural gestures to place the Bonnefantenmuseum within a collapsed European canon.

© James Taylor-Foster

Situated in a former industrial district in the southern Dutch city of Maastricht, it?s perhaps fitting that the Bonnefantenmuseum has often been called  a ?viewing factory.? The museum, with its ?E?-shaped plan and distinctive domed tower, is one of the most prominent landmarks along the River Meuse that flows around the city center. Europe?s rich cultural history was a key impetus for architect Aldo Rossi?s design, which employed a number of historical architectural gestures to place the Bonnefantenmuseum within a collapsed European canon.
Courtesy of Flickr user l a b e t e

Maastricht, capital of the Dutch province of Limburg, has a history which stretches back to the Roman Empire. It was in this city that the Maastricht Treaty, which ushered in the European Union as we know it, went into effect in 1993. For ov...