“Ik beschouw het als een lijst van verhalen.”
“I consider it to be a list of stories”
Last Monday, State secretary Jet Bussemakers presented a list of 89 new state monuments. Once a building has become an official monument, it is not allowed to be changed or demolished. The owners can apply for subsidies to keep the monument intact.
All of the buildings that gained this protected status this week, were built in the second phase of the reconstruction after WWII (1959- 1965).
In her speech at the Evoluon in Eindhoven ( the flying saucer – shaped museum that happens to be on the monumental list as well), Bussemakers expresses that the buildings represent more than just their architectural, or artistic value. They are connected to periods from our history and to personal memories and stories. “Every time we put a building on our list, we say: This is one of these stories.”
There are quite a lot of buildings from Den Haag on this monumental list of brickwork stories. The American Embassy, the American Protestant Church, the Christus Triomfator Church and the technical school Sint Paulus can all call themselves state monuments from now on. The former Ministry of Agriculture, the Tweede Visafslag (United Fish Auction) in Scheveningen and the ANWB main office will also be saved for posterity.
Photo: American Embassy in The Hague