''The Destroyed City'' (Dutch: ''De verwoeste stad'') is a bronze memorial sculpture in the Dutch city of

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. It commemorates the

German bombing of Rotterdam In 1940, Rotterdam was subjected to heavy aerial bombardment by the ''Luftwaffe'' during the German invasion of the Netherlands during the Second World War. The objective was to support the German troops fighting in the city, break Dutch resi ...

on 14 May 1940, which destroyed the medieval centre of the city. Unveiled in 1953, it was designated as a Dutch national monument (

Rijksmonument A (, ) is a national heritage site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. At the end of February 2015, the Netherlands had 61,822 l ...

) in 2010. It is the largest sculpture by the Russian-born French sculptor

Ossip Zadkine Ossip Alexeevich Zadkine (; 28 January 1888 – 25 November 1967) was a Russian and French artist of the School of Paris. He is best known as a sculptor, but also produced paintings and lithographs. Early years and education Zadkine was born o ...

, his best known work, and the best known sculpture in Rotterdam. The high sculpture depicts a stylized human figure leaning against a tree stump. The figure holds both hands aloft, with its head thrown back as if crying in grief, and a gaping hole in its chest and abdomen. The absence of a heart is said to symbolise the destruction of the centre of Rotterdam. Zadkine described it as "A cry of horror against the inhuman brutality of this act of tyranny". The sculpture has been compared to the figure with arms raised in terror on the far right of

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

's painting '' Guernica''. It stands on a tapering high plinth of

Labrador Labrador () is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its populatio ...

granite blocks (reportedly, the stone had been intended for a sculpture of Adolf Hitler in Berlin). It is sited on the north side of the early 17th century dock basin of in the centre of Rotterdam. Zadkine's work was influenced by

Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...

and by

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

. He was inspired to create the sculpture shortly after the end of the Second World War, probably 1946 or 1947, when his train passed through the ruined centre of Rotterdam while travelling from Paris to visit his friend, the doctor and painter , in the Dutch town of Deurne. Zadkine created a high model in terracotta, intended as a memorial to the victims of war, which was exhibited in Berlin and Prague in 1947. The terracotta was damaged in transit, so Zadkine created a new model in plaster about high, which was exhibited in Brussels and at the

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

in 1948. Zadkine was commissioned to create a full-size sculpture in bronze by , the managing director of the

De Bijenkorf (; literally, "the beehive") is a chain of high-end department stores in the Netherlands, with its flagship store on Dam Square in Amsterdam. The chain is owned by Selfridges Group, owner also of Britain's Selfridges and Ireland's Bro ...

chain of Dutch department stores, whose Rotterdam store was heavily damaged in the German bombing in 1940. A bronze model was exhibited at the

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen () is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from its two most important donors, Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. The museum is located a ...

in Rotterdam in December 1949. The full-size bronze sculpture was created from 1951 to 1953 and cast by the Susse Frères foundry in Paris. It was presented to the city as an anonymous gift, on condition that its location should be chosen by Zadkine, and it should remain permanently in place; the identity of the donor became known in 1978. The modern sculpture was controversial, with the objections of , director of Rotterdam's Department of Public Works (), published in the . Tillema condemned the sculpture as a "madly demonic scourge" that would "paralyze the heart of my city forever". Despite his objections, ultimately the gift was accepted, and Tillema was responsible for designing the plinth. The statue was donated, but installation, including the plinth, cost 24,500

guilders Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' (" gold penny"). This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Rom ...

. It was unveiled by Jacoba van Walsum, wife of Gerard van Walsum, the mayor or Rotterdam, on 15 May 1953 on , where it stands nowadays outside the

Maritime Museum Rotterdam The Maritime Museum Rotterdam is a maritime museum in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Dedicated to naval history, it was founded in 1874 by Prince William Frederick Henry of the Netherlands, Prince Henry of the Netherlands. Next to the Maritime Muse ...

. It was moved approximately from its original position in 1975. It was restored while temporarily removed in 2005 to allow construction works, and returned to its place in 2007. It was registered as a ''

'' (number 530902) in 2010. A proposal made in 2014 to move the sculpture again to a prominent position outside the new

Rotterdam Centraal station Rotterdam Centraal station (; ) is the main railway station of the city Rotterdam in South Holland, Netherlands. The station received an average of 112,000 passengers daily in 2019. The current station building, located at Station Square, was of ...

was soon abandoned. It has received many nicknames from the residents of Rotterdam, including "Stad zonder Hart" (City without a heart), "Zadkini", “Jan Gat” (Jan Hole) and "Jan met de Handjes" (Jan with the little hands). In February 2019, the sculpture and its emotional impact were discussed in the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

programme ''Pen Pals''. File:Onthulling door mevrouw Van Walsum van het beeld van Zadkine te Rotterdam, Bestanddeelnr 905-7256.jpg, Unveiling in 1953 File:Zadkine rb I.jpg, 2005 File:Pays-Bas Rotterdam Leuvehaven De Verwoerste Stad - panoramio.jpg, 2015 File:Zadkine2019.jpg, 2019

References

The destroyed city
Sculpture International Rotterdam

tracesofwar.nl
Sculpture in Rotterdam
edited by Jan van Adrichem, Jelle Bouwhuis, Mariette Dölle, p.200-201
Monumentnummer: 530902 De Verwoeste Stad te Rotterdam

Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE, Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands) often abbreviated as Cultureel Erfgoed, is a Dutch cultural heritage, heritage organisation working for the protection and conservation of National Heritage ...

Unveiling of The Destroyed City
Platform Wederopbouw Rotterdam {{DEFAULTSORT:Destroyed City, The 1953 sculptures Bronze sculptures in the Netherlands Outdoor sculptures in Rotterdam Rijksmonuments in Rotterdam Sculptures by Ossip Zadkine World War II memorials in the Netherlands Rotterdam in World War II