Some years ago, the Rotterdam Council began commissioning  local artists to paint scenes on the walls of apartment blocks, shopping centres and even the pillars of underpasses – anwhere where there were available walls or spaces.

The idea is to brighten up the urban landscape and break the monotony of a high density city but also to express the multicultural character of a city with over 100 different nationalities and where Caucasians are a minority. 

I’ve seen similar murals elsewhere in European cities but these murals in Rotterdam are the best I’ve seen anywhere. To take these photos I walked all over the city and many of them I discovered unexpectedly; no doubt there are others which I missed.