This rehabilitated arthouse cinema in the Netherlands romanticises the silver screen

One can argue that going to the cinema to watch a film these days has all the nostalgic charm of receiving snail mail. This is especially true for Visum Mundi, a rehabilitated arthouse cinema in Wageningen, an hour’s drive southeast of Amsterdam.

There is plenty to admire here, not least because the 1935 building was the site for the signing of the peace treaty between Dutch and German forces to mark the end of the last World War. Visum Mundi is the latest project of Dutch businessman Martin Ruiter and builds on an investment portfolio grounded in sustainability.

Step inside Visum Mundi, Wageningen

For the design, rather than start from a tabula rasa, the London-based studio, Fare Inc. worked within conservation codes to infuse the two-storey building – a 119-seater cinema above and bar/lounge below – with a handsome palette of warm colours and nostalgic decorative features that pay respectful homage to the building’s past.

‘As we couldn’t touch much of the historical fabric of the building,’ says Fare Inc’s principal, Annie Harrison, ‘we focused on sustainable upholstery and fabric using a palette of military greens, sky blues and beiges to reflect a war-time past with a peaceful, hopeful ambience.’

The fidelity to this careful balancing between past and present runs through Visum Mundi - the name, incidentally, is Latin for ‘view of the world’ – with Harrison using warm woods and dandelion chandeliers to line the pitched ceiling of the cinema, and fabric inspired by camouflage prints in light blue, alongside a judicious selection of vintage furniture scattered around the horseshoe-shaped bar.

For Harrison, Visum Mundi reflects the preoccupation of her studio of three with creating soft, warm spaces that integrate location with culture. She recently completed the interiors of a Sri Lankan restaurant within a historic East London warehouse, and is now working on a nightclub set in an old South London department store.

Visum Mundi, she adds, was challenging because the design needed ‘to feel like a new, exciting venue for Wageningen, whilst complementing the buildings’s history and architecture, and resonating across multiple generations.’

If you ask us, that’s a show worth booking.

Visum Mundi is located at Generaal Foulkesweg 1, 6703 BG Wageningen, Netherlands, visummundi.nl