How Netherlands panopticon prisons are being reborn as stunning arts hubs
Escape from the terrordome: how Netherlands panopticon prisons are being reborn as stunning arts hubs.
‘It used to be that you couldn’t leave – now you won’t want to!’ The Guardian writes about the gransformation of the old prisons into art hubs.
Operating as a prison from 1899 until 2016, the Koepelgevangenis (“dome prison”) is one of three panoptic penitentiaries built in the Netherlands. All were shut down in the past decade as part of the country’s drive to reduce its prison population and are now being repurposed as arts venues.
Haarlem’s Koepel opened as a cultural hub in 2022, thanks to a grassroots initiative led by the local population. “So many of us Haarlemers had been biking around the dome for years, but no one could go in,” says Jacqueline van de Sande, co-founder of the Koepel Foundation, the organisation behind the building’s transformation. “We needed to open it up.”
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