Tropeninstituut: Koninklijk Instituut Voor de Tropen

Upon entering KIT, you will find yourself in the impressive Marble Hall, a soaring octagonal space that leads to the other meeting rooms in the building. The hall is ideal as a event location and provides a beautiful setting for a new years eve event. The hall is decorated with twelve types of marble from Tuscany, Italy. The floor, the pillars and the stairs are marble-lined and the balustrades are carved out of marble. The colors of the marble are unusual. The green marble, vert polververa, has become scarce and is only mined and used for restoration purposes. The pattern of the floor, clearly visible from the upper balustrade, is laid out as a livre ouvert, or open book. The plates were cut and placed in such a way that the marble veins form a symmetrical pattern.