The former Zonnestraal Sanatorium is a national monument of international significance and a globally recognized icon of the Nieuwe Bouwen school, the Dutch arm of the International Modern Movement. Designed by the architects Jan Duiker and Bernard Bijvoet in 1925, the building is internationally regarded as one of the high¬lights of 20th-century architecture and has therefore been included on the Tentative List for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The complex was originally intended for diamond polishers who had contracted tuberculosis. In the Zonnestraal Sanatorium (the name meaning 'Ray of Sunshine'), they could follow a long-term course of treatment and recuperate under medical supervision. The white buildings were constructed in concrete, steel and glass and were completed in 1928, in the expectation that they would be in use for a limited period.
By the early 1960s the complex had gone to ruin. Its restoration, supervised by the architects Hubert-Jan Henket and Wessel de Jonge, is set for completion in 2009, the culmination of four decades of research and planning. The battle for recognition of Zonnestraal's importance and the complex process of the building's restoration reads like a thriller, but it also constitutes a critical dossier on best practice in the management of modern monuments.
The sanatorium's exceptional past is traced using historical images, at the same time showing how impressive the outcome of the restoration actually is. Dutch and international experts describe the origins of the Zonnestraal complex and the surrounding landscape, the changes it has undergone over the course of time, and the architectural, technical, landscape- and policy-related aspects of the restoration process. The result is a colourful portrait of a monument of the Nieuwe Bouwen
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