Gemeentelijke Begraafplaats

English translation

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Description

Introduction

Cast-iron funeral monument, erected in memory of N.F.E. von Gumoens and the siege of the Citadel of Antwerp.

Year in which the concession was granted: 1834.

Nicolaas Frederik Emmanuel von Gumoens was Swiss by birth, but his family had long maintained ties with the Netherlands: his grandfather had fought on the side of Prince Frederick against the French.

In 1816 he went to the Netherlands where he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the general staff. In this capacity he was in September 1830 entrusted with conducting negotiations with the rebels in Brussels. He was then stationed in Antwerp, where he was assigned to the staff of General Chasse. In 1832 he was seriously wounded by the explosion of a bomb at the Fernando bastion. Von Gumoens died from his injuries and was buried in Bergen op Zoom until his remains were transferred to The Hague in 1834 to be placed in the monument that his friends had erected for him.

Description

Cast-iron funeral monument in the form of a large truncated pyramid (pylon). This stands on square spheres and is topped by a worked cornice with acroteria at the corners. The whole stands on a block-shaped base, which is decorated at the four corners with three-quarter columns in the form of bundles of arrows. The bundles are held together by crossed bands. The cornice of this base continues with a curve above the arrow bundles and, like the cornice of the truncated pyramid, is enlivened by acanthus leaves. The flat panels on the four sides are for inscriptions and heraldic motifs; those of the truncated pyramid have on the front and rear respectively a helmet and sword surrounded by an oak and laurel branch and two inverted torches, held together by a wreath with a bow.

This monument is placed on a base of three steps and a high basement. The ironwork is painted. The truncated pyramid and base, light brown with reddish-brown cornice; the ribs, mouldings, arrow bundles, acroteria, spheres and the three steps of the base, black; the basement, light grey; the crossed bands, accents on helmet, sword, torches and leaf motifs, green; water around the image of the citadel, light blue. The monument was made by the Deventer iron foundry, as indicated by the inscription near the citadel.

Graphic design: raised Latin capitals.

Dimensions: length 280 x width 280 x height 485 cm.

Text: Front on banderol below coat of arms: VIRTUE OVERCOMES IN LIFE/ Rear: CITADEL OF ANTWERP Left side: NIC:FREDER:EMMAN:/DE GUMOENS/BORN IN HELVETIA CITY/ ON XIX APRIL:MDCCXC/TRIBUNE MILITARY/PREFECT TO ORDER THE NETHERLANDS CAMPS/ IN DEFENCE OF THE FORTRESS OF ANTWERP/SOLDIER VOLUNTEER/DIED FROM WOUNDS/ ON XXIX DECEMB: MDCCCXXXII/THIS MONUMENT/ERECTED BY/GRIEVING COMRADES IN ARMS Right side: TO THE MEMORY/OF/NICOLAAS FREDERIK EMMANUEL/DE GUMOENS/ BORN AT ORBE IN SWITZERLAND 19 APRIL 1790/ COLONEL IN THE GENERAL STAFF/OF THE DUTCH ARMY/DIED FROM HIS WOUNDS RECEIVED/IN THE DEFENCE OF THE CITADEL/OF ANTWERP/IN WHICH HE PARTICIPATED VOLUNTARILY/29 DECEMBER 1832/BY HIS FELLOW SOLDIERS IN ARMS AND FRIENDS/DEDICATED/ Appraisal

Funeral monument of cultural-historical and typological importance as a well-preserved example of a cast-iron grave in the form of a truncated pyramid.