At first glance it looks like a small and not so special kettle. Yet the most important treasure of the fortified town is Grave. The original is in the Rijksmuseum. But Grave thought it was so important that there is now an exact replica of the kettle in the City Museum of Grave. Why is this kettle so special?
The story begins somewhere in the sixteenth century when the Turkish privateer Barbarossa encounters the kettle on one of his raids in the then Kingdom of Naples. “He must have thought that the kettle is mine,” says Jan Timmermans of the Grave City Museum.
The kettle has taken Barbarossa to Tunis in Tunisia. The kettle is actually not a kettle at all. It is a washbasin that was used in the church. It is the Turks who later make a pouring spout.
Gift to Grave
A few years later, in 1536, Tunis is conquered by Emperor Charles V. One of his army commanders is Maximilian van Egmont, the Count of Buren, but also Stadtholder of Grave and the Land van Cuijk. During that conquest, he encounters the cauldron and takes it with him.
He also changes something about the kettle. There is a silver band around it with the text:
“This kleynoot was customary by Maximiliaen ionckgreef tot Bueren van der unbelieving in aphrica and opte 28 desemb. a 1536 der stat graef started.” (This jewel was conquered by Maximilian from the infidels in Africa and given to Grave.)
Boiler sold
Apparently Van Egmont is so kind to the inhabitants of Grave that he gives them the kettle. “This little kettle had to stay with Grave forever,” says Timmermans. “It was regularly used when there were high visitors to serve wine.”
But the cauldron doesn’t stay in Grave forever. In 1878 Mayor Mommers needed money for the municipality. He sells the kettle to a befriended antique dealer. “That should never have happened,” says Timmermans. The cauldron eventually ends up in the Rijksmuseum via the antique dealer.
Grave’s greatest treasure
Grave’s kettle is now in the permanent exhibition there. “We sometimes asked if the kettle could be returned to Grave,” says Timmermans. “But they think the kettle is so important for the national history that it stays there.”
“But this is Grave’s greatest treasure.” And so the kettle has been accurately copied and can be seen in the City Museum of Gave.