A few Well-known Sculptures of Rotterdam

Rotterdam has more than 200 sculptures in the public space. Just like the architecture of the city, most of the sculptures are modern as well. Last Tuesday I wrote about the Sculpture Route on the Westersingel. Today I’ll tell you something about a few of the most popular sculptures the city has to offer!

The Erasmussculpture – Hendrick de Keyser

The oldest sculpture the city has is a statue of Desiderius Erasmus, designed by Hendrick de Keyser. The sculpture was first made of wood, and was cast in bronze in 1622. With that it became the first bronze statue in the Netherlands, as well as the first non-religious statue. For years the sculpture was placed on the big market square, but when it came out unharmed from the bombardment it was transferred secretly to the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen.

After the war the sculpture got its current position at the Grotekerkplein in front of the Sint-Laurenschurch.

The Destroyed City – Ossip Zadkine

The Destroyed City is a sculpture made as memorial for the bombardment on Rotterdam. The story tells that Zadkine got inspiration in the train back from Paris. From the train he saw the completely faded away center in the middle of Rotterdam.

The bronze sculpture is a human figure without an hart. This is symbolic for the heart of the city that has been lost in the bombardment.

The sculpture is given as a present by the management board of the Bijenkorf, but only if the sculpture would stay on its place. On the 15^th of May 1953 the sculpture was revealed at Plein 1940 which is at the Leuvenhaven. Even though the discussion comes up every few years, it still stays put there.

The Stylized Flower – Naum Gabo

A few years later, in 1957, one of the most well-known works of Naum Gabo was revealed in front of the, back then, new Bijenkorf. The sculpture is known as the most important work in his oeuvre. Different from the other sculptures discusses, this is not a statue, nor is it property of the city. The artwork is 26.2 meters high and its maximum width are 4.8 meter and 5.2 meter. The work consists of four steal main ribs, and four inner ribs, which is then again filled with a smaller “inner image”.

The sculpture was property of the Bijenkorf until 2007. Since then it’s property of a real estate consortium.

The Kissing Earth – Olafur Eliasson

Alright, even though the sculpture is not realized yet, it has to be (according to the committee) “a new groundbreaking sculpture”. It had to be a “second Zadkine”. This sculpture The Kissing Earth, will be placed at the new station square. It already got the nickname ‘the balls of Rotterdam’.

The work will consist of two globes that touch each other where Rotterdam is placed, which is a symbol for the optimism of the city. It presents Rotterdam as metropolis, but at the same time the sculpture is very contemporary as well.

However, not everybody is happy with it just yet. A large group would rather see the Zadkine statue at the square, another group thinks it’s a shame to fill up the large space.

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