It was thought lost for years and was rumored to be in an attic somewhere: the head of St. Aloysius. The complete statue of the saint once adorned the facade of the Binckhorst-st primary school. Jan in Laren, but it broke during a renovation. After a call in the context of the 110th anniversary of the Larense primary school, the head is now (temporarily) back.
Since Friday, students have been able to come face-to-face with the saint’s head in the display case of the mini-museum. Because of this special anniversary, there is a busy search for relics from the school’s past. These all have a place in the mini-museum, but the return of Santa’s head is already the highlight of the collection.
Years ago, the statue of the saint adorned the facade of the Catholic primary school. Until the moment a new headmaster decided that the statue had to be removed. During that renovation, the statue fell to pieces and ended up in the container. For years the statue was considered lost, but wild rumors circulated that the head was still buried somewhere.
“And we are going to look for that head,” thought Twannie de Ridder of the school’s parent council. So the primary school put out a call to find the head. With the help of sympathetic Laarders and social media, it did not take long before the head was finally found. It turns out: a student from the school named Clemens fished the head out of the container and took it home. “As a souvenir, he thought it was a shame,” says Twannie.
On loan
Clemens has now moved to Schoonhoven in South Holland, but he has always taken the saint’s head with him. Twannie eventually came into contact with the former student through the call.
Fortunately, Clemens was good enough to lend the statue to Twannie. As a result, Saint Aloysius is back at primary school for a while. Although today the place on the facade is occupied by a statue of Saint John, the head has been given a prominent place in the mini-museum that was established for the anniversary. “With this museum, the students want to teach history in a fun way.”