Auditorium

The Auditorium is the University’s most distinguished venue. The concept of aula originally derives from the Greek aule, meaning central courtyard, which, in Latin, acquired the meaning of the official meeting room or auditorium. The Auditorium is at the heart of the Cobbenhagen Building, and this is where honorary doctors such as Kofi Annan, Al Gore and Robert Schuman were presented with the blue cape (cappa) on their shoulders. The Auditorium is the only place on campus where sessions ‒ such as the opening of the academic year, the celebration of the dies natalis or PhD ceremonies ‒ begin with prayer.

Picture of the former auditorium, when the university was bases in the centre of Tilburg

Revolts

The Auditorium has occasionally witnessed students revolts, chiefly to protest against government plans or the University’s Board (“Out with Van Boven [up there], in with the boys van beneden [down here].” And invariably it has been the location where many a PhD candidate, weak at the knees, has advanced towards the dais to face the doctorate board and come up with solid answers to learned questions. Academic gatherings are sometimes called the Masses of the modern age, and the somewhat church-like Auditorium in Tilburg is a fitting setting for such services, even more so after its acoustics and its presentation facilities were updated in the 21st century. Its high walls, only interrupted by small, vertical, rhythmically placed openings, are reminiscent of the sober type of church architecture from the post-war Reconstruction period. Its architect, Jos Bedaux, provided the Auditorium with a narrow skylight at the top, endowing the space with a secluded and subdued atmosphere.

Artwork

The Auditorium, including its balcony, can seat 650 people. A remarkable feature is that the space is free-standing from the main building itself, quite detached from the facade: you can actually walk all the way around the Auditorium. Its walls are graced by a tapestry designed by artist Teun Hocks and woven by the TextielMuseum in Tilburg, called Understanding Society. It represents a gray-haired man with a magnifying glass examining a giant footstep in a desert landscape. When it was unveiled, Hocks declared that all his life he had used his art to try and fathom the world but that he had not yet managed to do so after all those years. The Auditorium in the former College on Tivolistraat in Tilburg