Waalsdorpervlakte – National Memorial in The Netherlands

Posted on 25/06/2013 by Michael

Waalsdorpervlakte, The Hague, Netherlands

The simple memorial at Waalsdorpervlakte, in southern Holland, to Resistance fighters murdered by the Fascists during the Second World War, is a place for the people to remember and celebrate the sacrifices made to liberate their country.

Second World War memorial sites have a different meaning in Europe to those that commemorate the event in the UK – they’re more immediate. In Britain direct experience of war for the civilian population was limited to whatever might rain down on them from the air whereas huge parts of Europe were totally devastated in the conflict, most especially the Soviet Union, and invasion and its consequences were an everyday matter in all those countries occupied by Fascist forces.

Most of the western European countries capitulated within days and as a result physical damage to the major cities was minimal. For example, both Paris and Amsterdam suffered less destruction than London (and many other British cities) even though France and The Netherlands lost their independence through the German occupation. Quick capitulation, pro-Fascists internally and the attitude of the Nazis that the French and the Dutch were Aryans (unless you were a Communist, Jew, Gypsy or homosexual) meant that the local population were not unduly mistreated by the invaders – as long as they played along with the occupiers.

The situation was very different in the east. Just look at pictures of German officers walking around the Eiffel Tower with French women on their arms or boat loads of German soldiers playing at tourists – doing 70 years ago what thousands of tourist do today – looking at Amsterdam’s attractions from the canals. Compare that with the Soviet Union where the only pictures of Germans with Russian women is when they are standing beside a gibbet with a line of Soviet citizens hanging from a short rope, indicating a slow strangulation rather than an ‘efficient’ hanging.

In France and Holland most accepted the occupation and kept their heads down, not wishing to court trouble; some were out-and-out collaborators – and from that number some paid the price at the end of the war whilst others went on to positions of power and influence in the post-war reconstruction; others actively fought in the Resistance at various levels, from taking up arms to hiding those being sought by the Gestapo. But the price for being in the last group could mean death.

And for 250-280 Dutch Resistance fighters their last stand of defiance would be where they would be buried.

Waalsdorpervlakte, The Hague, Netherlands

The Waalsdorpervlakte is an open place in the dune area “Meijendel” not far from The Hague (the government and administrative centre of Holland). This area, close to the sea, is relatively isolated today and would have been even more so in the 1940s. Prisoners were brought here, shot and then buried in unmarked graves. Not by chance this was also the execution site of the Anton Mussert, one of the founders of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (NSB) and its formal leader. On the defeat of the Nazis he was arrested, convicted of high treason and sentenced to death. Exactly a year after he was arrested he faced a similar firing squad to the Resistance fighters but was buried in a public cemetery, there being no desire to pollute the most recent of Holland’s memorial sites.

After the war May 4^th was declared the day for the ‘Remembrance of the Dead’ and almost spontaneously, and without any official government input, survivors of the Resistance and relatives of those murdered there decided to congregate and commemorate their lives.

Although this has now turned into a ritual it still retains its common approach. There are no VIPs (except any remaining survivors and relatives of those assumed to be buried there), no speeches and it’s for anyone who wishes to turn up to take part.

Waalsdorpervlakte, The Hague, Netherlands

On a slight rise overlooking the simple memorial there’s a huge Bourbon bell. From the time that the procession arrives from the entrance to the park, at about 19.40, groups of people slowly toll the bell by pulling on ropes attached to the four corners of the bell support. At 20.00 the bell is silenced, the ‘Last Post’ is sounded and this is followed by a two minutes silence. The national anthem signals the end of the two minutes and then the assembled people place their tributes. Whilst they are doing this the big bell sounds out its deep, bass tone and tradition holds that the bell will continue to toll as long as there are people still waiting to place their wreaths or flowers. The ceremony normally finishes between 22.00 and 23.00.

This is not a mass event the way that some of the national memorial services tend to be, with their so-called ‘dignitaries’ in attendance, but there were just a few short of 4,000 people at the event in 2013.

Although May 4th is a special event the site is accessible all year round.

Click here for a short video of the ‘Remembrance of the Dead’ day in 2013.

Practicalities

Public transport

From Station The Hague Central Station take bus 22 going in the direction of Duinzigt. Get off at stop ‘Waalsdorperweg’ (13 minutes) and then on foot (about 10 minutes), heading in a generally north-easterly direction. There are 4 buses an hour.

GPS coordinates:

International coordinate system WGS84
Monument: Lat N 52.11577 ° Long E 04.33624 °

Exposure by Antony Gormley

Posted on 17/06/2013 by Michael

Exposure – Antony Gormley, Lelystad, Holland

Even if they haven’t seen it most people know of The Angel of the North sculpture by the road outside Gateshead. Exposure, close to the Dutch city of Lelystad is even bigger.

But it took a long time to come to fruition.

It was in 2001 that the municipality of Lelystad decided to have a competition for a major work of art to be placed between the city and the sea. Antony Gormley won and in 2005 he was awarded the commission.

Having to deal with the technical issues involved with such a huge piece of art meant that the cost started to rise and it wasn’t until 2007 that this financial problem was resolved when a major sponsor came in to foot the bill.

The company Had Fab, based in Scotland and more used to putting up electricity pylons, had been involved with the project from the start and they then took 3 years to produce all the bits of this huge mecanno-like structure. It was first put together at their works in East Lothian and then it took about a month to erect it on the prepared site, on a dam beside the Markermeer, a couple of kilometres from the centre of Lelystad.

Map showing location of Exposure in Lelystad, The Netherlands

Gormley is known for basing his sculptures upon the human body, normally his own, and Exposure is no different. One of his other well-known works in the UK is the collection of a hundred life-sized cast iron figures called Another Place which is spaced out along a 3.5 kilometre stretch of Crosby beach, at the mouth of the River Mersey, close to Liverpool.

Another Place, Antony Gormley, Crosby beach, Liverpool

Another Place, Crosby beach, Liverpool

Exposure is a human figure, 25 metres high (5 metres taller than The Angel of the North) and weighing 60 tonnes, crouching and looking out to sea. There are more than 5,000 individual pieces, each of different length and size, and it’s all kept together with 14,000 or so bolts. It was officially inaugurated on the 17^th September 2010.

One of the things that makes this sculpture interesting is its location. It is situated on a narrow strip of land and has water the side it is looking as well as at its back. The land is part of the system of dams and dykes which prevent The Netherlands from being under water so there is no other structure close by. In that way it’s easy to imagine someone just quietly looking out to sea, thinking. The only difference is that this figure is more than 80 feet high.

Not as easy to get to as some of the sites in Holland but not impossible and well worth the effort.

Practicalities

Public Transport

A train from Amsterdam Centraal takes under 40 minutes and there are 3 or 4 an hour during the day. On leaving Lelystad railway station head towards the bus station, the other side of the tracks, about a minute away. There catch the Stadbus No. 3, to Batavia Stad, a shopping complex. From there walk towards the coast and it crouches on the dam lying parallel to the shoreline. You can’t miss it, it’s big enough.

Resurrection of Christ Greek Orthodox Cathedral – Tirana

Posted on 02/06/2013 by Michael

Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Tirana – Main entrance

Resurrection of Christ Greek Orthodox Cathedral – Tirana

There doesn’t seem to be any money to improve the infrastructure in Albania but plenty for building churches and the new Resurrection of Christ Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Tirana has taken a big chunk of that budget.

This very modern structure, nothing like the traditional Orthodox churches, is to be found on Dëshmorët e 4 Shkurit, just before the junction with Myslym Shyri, a couple of minutes from Skënderbeu Square in the centre of Tirana. It was officially opened on 24^th June 2012 and cost ‘millions of Euros’.

In place of looking for local, Albanian architects the Orthodox Church decided to go to architects based in New York, Papadatos Partnership LLP. They have established themselves as specialists in building Greek Orthodox churches in the United States. The founder of this partnership is an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and it is through the influence of this lay organisation that the money was probably found to pay for the cathedral.

The head of the Albanian Greek Orthodox, Archbishop Anastasios, is quoted as saying, in July 2003, ‘I was asked to revive the Church without any financial support, in a destitute country undergoing a wrenching political transformation.’ And in the last 10 years or so 83 new churches have been rebuilt and 40, that were in ruin, repaired.

One of the strange things that you notice when travelling around Albania is that although there are a lot of new churches they never seem to have anyone in them. For example I went to see what the congregation was like at the time of the six o’clock evening mass in a couple of Catholic churches in Shkodër – the Franciscan Church was deserted and the Cathedral was locked up. And this has been repeated virtually everywhere I’ve been.

Almost like a mantra anti-communists get indignant when talking about the concrete bunkers that were built throughout the country during the socialist period. Yes, these would have diverted resources away from other projects but there is no denying the fact that the country was being threatened from all sides and the construction of these bunkers was a matter of national defence. It was said that the resources could have been spent on roads and housing but if that was true then what are we to say about the untold billions that get spent in capitalist Britain, the USA and other European countries on extremely expensive armaments. Aren’t there better ways of spending this money than on the new Trident submarine system, for example, being proposed in the UK? I don’t mind criticism but can’t we have a little bit of consistency? (Of course not!)

So if bunkers are no longer being built in Albania why aren’t resources being used to improve the infrastructure rather than the building of churches and mosques by all the three main religions, Islam, Catholic and Orthodox Christian? And I’m sure that fundamentalist protestants are there somewhere – they seem to try to get in everywhere they can.

Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Tirana – Main entrance at night

But back to the new Resurrection of Christ Greek Orthodox Cathedral. Some facts. It’s the third largest Orthodox church in Europe and took 8 years to construct.

It’s an interesting building and I can see uses for it after the next atheist campaign in Albania. But for a cathedral it’s relatively small on the inside. There are supposed to be a couple of levels below ground, where there’s a concert room, but it wouldn’t take a lot to fill the main church – quite useful if not many people come.

Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Tirana – Christ painting on dome

The interior is ornate in its own way at the moment but according to the computer generated pictures I’ve seen of the architect’s intentions there should be a great deal more decoration on the walls. On the four corners of the square dome supporting arches images of the four evangelists were planned as well as covering much of the interior walls with paintings or mosaics but, at least for the moment, there are only bare walls. But they’ve managed to complete the image of Christ on the dome. All in all a little bit more luxurious than the Mother of Christ church on top of the hill in Dhermi.

Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Tirana – View from main entrance

One of the more interesting aspects of the structure is the clock tower which is completely separate from the main building. This is in the design of four pillars which converge slightly towards the top where they cradle the clock, which is lit up at night.

Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Tirana – Clock Tower at night

When I went there it had rained a little bit earlier in the day and the marble on the steps and the platform before the main entrance were like a skating rink so those in a hurry in the wrong weather conditions could end up meeting their maker sooner than expected.