It took years of struggle, but finally there is again an ornament on the Utrechtse Poort in Naarden-Vesting. The statue was unveiled to the inhabitants of the fortified city on Sunday afternoon.
The original statue disappeared during World War II. Joop Kruijswijk and Wim Kloosterman played on the gate as children and thought that the empty pedestal of the Utrechtse Poort looked scanty. That is why the gentlemen themselves decided to roll up their sleeves to place a new ornament.
Long road
It was a long road that the Naardernezen had to travel to get back a new version of the ‘Trophy of Weapons’, as the ornament is called. “For at least four years,” says Wim. At the beginning of 2020, the gentlemen started with collect money and draw attention through playful actions.
For example, Joop and Wim have put a crafted ornament on the gate during a visit from Pete Hoekstra, then American ambassador to the Netherlands. In this way they wanted to draw attention to their goal. And during carnival they went through the streets of Naarden in traditional costume with the crafted ornament.
When the required amount of 55,000 euros was largely obtained, things went very fast. Artist Willem Noyons could finally get to work making a new ornament. In May of 2022, there was sculptedin September it became cast bronze and last Thursday morning the ornament was placed on the pedestal that had been empty for decades.
Vase and crows
In one of the very first reports who made NH Nieuws about the new ornament, Wim referred to the ornament-free gate as ‘a vase without flowers’. “Now the gate is finally a vase with flowers again”, Joop says proudly.
There was even room on the ornament for a small surprise for Joop and Wim. Without telling the initiators, the artist Noyons had incorporated two crows into the image, as symbolic of Joop and Wim. The nickname for a Naardernees is a crow. “Yeah, damn!”, Wim responds surprised.