Mission Statements
WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION 5
In 1991, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to promote its national architecture abroad. Since then, a number of new embassy buildings, designed by the most renowned Dutch architects, have been built all over the world.
The buildings. characterised by interesting references to the traditional Dutch architecture, at the same time, reflected the modern Dutch approach to the issue of diplomacy. International critics have produced numerous enthusiastic reviews, describing this new mission of architecture, while a lot of these new embassy projects have been internationally recognised and rewarded. For economic and political reasons, the government decided to suspend the project after 20 years of operation. On 8 April 2011, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated: We are going to move away, as far as possible, from the traditional image of the embassy as a building with a flag and a staff speaking a foreign language.
“Mission Statements” presents a story of the four most interesting embassies – in Paramaribo (Surinam), i.e. the first embassy building of the project, developed in very harsh political conditions (Surinam used to be a Dutch colony); in Berlin – the project which overran the original budget four times and became one of the most popular tourist attractions of the city; in Maputo (Mozambique) – the embassy built shortly after the end of a civil war, in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), a building with strong references to traditional Ethiopian rock churches.