The West-Indisch Huis (1735) is one of the most beautiful 18th-century buildings in Dordrecht. The building houses an exhibition of paintings that depict key moments from the Bible’s timeline. In addition to the biblical scenes, a number of realistically painted still lifes of nature are on display.
The Monument at
The street-facing facade is approximately 16.5 m wide, and the entire building is 18.3 m deep. It was built by Fredrik Wilkens and has been inhabited by various families over the years. Significant changes were made to the interior, in part by the Dordrecht-based Schefferdrukkerij printing company, which was located in the building from 1950 to 1998. After the printing company moved out, the building was sold to Victor Deconinck, who established an art gallery there. He had the building restored to its original condition.
The mansion has a Baroque façade with five window bays and stands on a bluestone sidewalk. The wainscoting is also made of bluestone, and the ornamentation on both sides of the window above the entrance doors is in the Louis XIV style.
The beautiful transom window above the double doors depicts a winged head of Mercury, the god of commerce, and two cornucopias. Above Mercury, amid graceful vines, is an image of a sugar loaf wrapped in blue paper—the trademark of sugar refiner Wilkens.
