Adri Blok Pallas Athena (1955)

A school building designed by municipal architect Leo Voskuyl has stood on Nachtegaalplein in Charlois since 1955. Originally, the Charlois Lyceum was located here, but it merged into the Hugo de Groot public secondary school community. It is a typical post-war building with precast concrete decorations. At a height of 16 meters above ground level, the facade relief Pallas Athena, created by the artist Adri Blok, is located in the front facade. With her design, the Rotterdam sculptor aimed to subordinate the decorative element to the architecture, according to the magazine. Cement in 1953. The figure in the center represents the patroness of the Lycea, Pallas Athena, holding an owl on her right hand as a symbol of wisdom. Surrounding her are symbols of various subjects taught at the school. On the left are the so-called Beta subjects, such as cosmography and physics, which are represented by a planet, stars, the moon, and a retort (an old chemical distillation vessel with a curved spout). On the right stand the Alpha subjects, such as geography, history, and biology, which are represented by various animals and a capital.