History

MOTI is housed in one of the oldest buildings in Breda. Mention is first found of it in the archives of 1246 as a hospice in Breda. The function of a hospice at the time was to provide care and shelter to pilgrims and other strangers. The De Beyerd building lay just outside the built-up area on the road which led to Den Bosch. There was a city gate near to De Beyerd, which was known as the Hospice Gate.

Old men's home

From the 16th century, the Hospice on the Boschstraat was also used for the poor of Breda. In addition, De Beyerd acted as a hospital for sufferers of the plague and for the insane. From the 17th century, De Beyerd only provided shelter to old men. The façade of the building dates from 1643, when the building was expanded. The figures of ‘Thijs' and ‘Geert', at the time the two most famous old men of Breda, stand above the hardstone entrance gate.
Two centuries later, the Hospice was a genuine old man's home and the building was, from the on, named as such. There was room for around thirty people. They had to give up half of their income. Everybody helped to keep the household functioning.

Cultural centre

In 1955, the building was purchased by the municipality of Breda and renovated as a cultural centre. Many older inhabitants of Breda remember De Beyerd of this period. From 1981 until the middle of 2005, De Beyerd was a centre for the visual arts, with trend-setting exhibitions in the field of visual art, photography and graphic design.

Transformation

The transformation of De Beyerd into the Graphic Design Museum was initiated in the nineties of the previous century. The municipality of Breda, the State and the former management prepared the plans. The renowned architect Hans van Heeswijk, the in-house architect of De Beyerd since 1985, implemented the large-scale rebuilding. The design ensures a balance between the original building by Laureys Drijfhout from 1643 and the new section, which includes six large exhibition rooms.
In order to allow the exhibited work to be shown at its best, the details and colours in the building are subdued. The exhibition rooms largely have closed walls; daylight enters via the light cupolas at the end of the rooms.