Zitbank, BY Wildbaanweg

English translation

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Description

Introduction

"President Steijnbank", sandstone BENCH erected in 1923, situated in formal PARK LAYOUT on the estate De Hoge Veluwe.

From 1909 onwards the estate De Hoge Veluwe came into being through the purchase and consolidation of land by the Rotterdam industrialist couple Helene Müller (1869-1939) and Anthony G. Kröller (1862-1941). The old public roads that ran across the land were closed and rerouted at Kröller's expense. Around the newly created estate, measuring some 6800 hectares, a fence was erected. This country estate, created by the couple, served primarily as a hunting ground and country residence for the family and their guests. A farming operation was also conducted on the estate. Furthermore, within De Hoge Veluwe the artistic ideal that Helen Müller envisioned was realized. The grounds were laid out on her instructions with architecture and artworks, which each in their own way were to make visible the unity of art and nature that she advocated. Finally, a large museum building was to be realized on the grounds to house the art collection of Mrs. Kröller-Müller.

For the purposes of developing the estate, the couple engaged various architects. Buildings on the estate were actually executed by H.P. BERLAGE, the Belgian HENRY VAN DE VELDE and by A.J. KROPHOLLER. The sculptural works included in the complex are by the sculptors J. MENDES DA COSTA and JOHN RÄDECKER.

Following the economic crisis, the management of the estate was transferred in 1928 to the Kröller-Müller Foundation. In 1935 the Foundation Het Nationale Park de Hoge Veluwe was established.

For the statues and monuments on the estate the placement in the landscape plays a major and also compositional role, including in the case of the PRESIDENT STEYNBANK situated to the southwest of the museum.

The 'President Steijnbank' is situated in the woodland to the south of the Houtkampweg and to the west of the Wildbaanweg. The bench is situated within a formal park layout, which forms an open space in the woodland. Both bench and layout were designed by HENRY VAN DE VELDE. The bench was erected in honour of Marthinus Th. Steijn (1857-1916), the last president of the Boer Republic Orange Free State which in 1910 became part of the Union of South Africa. The monumental bench displays a massive and expressive design, in which symbolic elements are employed that refer to the qualities of the statesman. The park layout in which nature is ordered symbolizes an ordered society. The cruciform shape of the layout is clearly discernible from the air in the landscape.

Description

Elongated BENCH within geometric PARK LAYOUT.

The layout has a rectangular main form with a rounded short eastern side. This open space in the woodland is surrounded by low beech and oak hedges, beeches and weeping beeches. A path runs around the entire layout, planted on both sides with pollarded trees and broad strips of box hedging. The layout is accessible from the east via a path; the entrance is emphasized by two natural stone corner pillars. In the middle of the field a large Latin cross is indicated by means of flagstones, bordered with low box hedges. At the corners of the cross are small ornamental sandstone corner pilasters. At the eastern end of the Latin cross is a sandstone plate within the flagstones with text (in high relief) President/ "Mart Theunis Steijn/ in honour. Between the hedges and paths the layout is filled with grass or heather. The cross forms, as it were, the prelude to the bench itself, which on the western side closes off the layout. A path also runs in front of the bench. The path is surrounded by beech hedges, which continue to the bench. Opposite the bench, at the base of the beech hedges in the grass field, small bench-like corner pillars are placed, furnished with geometrically carved ornaments.

The bench is entirely made of Maulbronn sandstone and has an elongated squat main form, with forward and inward-projecting armrests on both sides, a lower seat and an accentuated central section. On the rear side the bench is supported by bevelled buttresses that seem to disappear into the ground. The bench is furnished in the three-sided elevated central section with incised, symbolic ornaments, a magnifying glass (carefulness), a weather glass (attention to the atmosphere in which things happen) and a sword (vigor).

Assessment

'President Steijnbank', BENCH within PARK LAYOUT from 1923 designed by Van de Velde:

- Of architectural-historical value as an intact and remarkable example of a bench, such as were frequently erected as a monument to a distinguished person in the period between the two world wars; the bench has typological value as such. The bench is characterized by a distinctive squat main form in natural stone, with bevelled sides and symbolically charged decorative elements. The layout within which the bench is placed plays an essential role in the entire concept. Within the oeuvre of architect Van de Velde, the monument is important as one of the works he realized for the couple Kröller-Müller.

- Of urban-design value as a characteristic component of the estate De Hoge Veluwe, where due to its location in relation to the landscaped park layout it possesses important locational value. The cross hardened with flagstones is perceptible from a great height in the landscape and thereby forms a landmark.

- Of cultural-historical value as part of the estate De Hoge Veluwe, which from 1909 onwards was assembled and laid out on the instructions of the couple Kröller-Müller.