Leuvehaven is Rotterdam's oldest hand-dug harbour, completed in 1609 after workers deepened a shallow creek called the Leuve and connected it to the Maas. The original name was to be Nieuwe Haven, New Harbour, until someone pointed out that any harbour built afterwards would also be new. Leuvehaven it became.

In its working days, large sailing ships lay here ready to depart for Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Brazil. Wealthy Rotterdammers made their homes along its quays. Today, it forms the outdoor area of the Maritime Museum, historic vessels moored alongside workshops where craftsmen repair wood and steel in full view of anyone who wanders in.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours use Leuvehaven to anchor Rotterdam's long maritime story, connecting the hand-dug creek to the city's trading golden age, the 1940 bombing, and the postwar reinvention that left the harbour one of the few legible traces of the old city.