Felix Meritis

It was built according to a winning design by the architect Jacob Otten Husly for the new society called Felix Meritis established in 1776 for Music, Drawing, Physics, Commerce and Literature in the modern neo-classical style.

The interior includes original 18th-century features such as the central staircase, the oval concert hall (renowned for its acoustics) and the domed roof - underneath which there used to be an astronomical observatory.

The orchestra of Felix Meritis was regarded as the best of the Netherlands and accompanied many Dutch premieres, directed by conductors such as Johannes Bernardus van Bree.

This image became especially embedded in the collective memory when the building was stormed on 4 November 1956, in response to the Soviet invasion of Hungary and its endorsement by the Dutch communist party.

In 1988, one hundred years after the old society was dissolved, The Felix Meritis foundation was re-established in the building as a European center for art, culture and science.

Between 2015 and 2016 the building housed the temporary project “Felix in de Steigers,” providing space for art, theater and several experimental cultural programs while construction was under way.