Architect with a Mission. P.J.H. Cuypers: a Catholic Master Builder

At the end of the nineteenth century the city of Amsterdam's two most iconic commissions (the Central Station and the Rijksmuseum), made possible by the favourable economic climate, and hence representative of Dutch national pride, were the work of a Catholic architect from Limburg. 2006 saw the completion of the inventory of the extensive PJ.H. Cuypers archive held at the Netherlands Architecture Institute. To mark this, 2007 was declared Cuypers Year. Many activities relating to Cuypers' buildings were organised, and three exhibitions were held: at the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam and Maastricht, and at the Stedelijk Museum in Roermond. Also, with more than one hundred churches to his name, Cuypers made an active contribution to the emancipation of the Catholic church that claimed such a visible presence in the public space. Thanks to Cuypers Year, a wider public is now aware that Cuypers was not only the designer of a several prominent public projects, but also ‘an architect with a mission'.