Feijenoord Monumental

A small concrete wall, formerly part of the wall around the Municipal Docks, serves as a memorial for Loods 24. This was the wooden building on the Municipal Docks, where during World War II the Jews from Rotterdam and the surrounding area were deported to Westerbork and from there to the extermination camps in Poland. On April 10, 2013, here it is Jewish children's monument unveiled in memory of the deported and killed Jewish children from Rotterdam. The monument was designed by Wim Quist (1930-2022).

In front of the Entrepot building is a bronze statue of Lodewijk Pincoffs (1827-1911), businessman, shipowner, banker, councilor and member of the Senate. He was the one who built the nearby Poortgebouw and Veempand 'De Vijf Werelddelen'. The Poortgebouw (1879) was designed as the office of the Rotterdamsche Handelsvereeniging (RVH), founded by Picoffs. After the bankruptcy of the RHV in 1879, Pincoffs fled to America, leaving behind a debt of millions. The statue was made by Willem Verbon (1921-2003) and was unveiled in 1998 by Pincoffs' great-grandson.

The eleven-metre-high Corinthian column halfway up Burgemeester Hoffmanplein was unveiled in 1884 in honor of Thomas Joannes Stieltjes (1819-1878). He was technical advisor to the Rotterdamsche Handelsvereeniging and was in charge of the construction of the harbors at Feijenoord. Eugen Gugel (1832-1905) designed the column, the relief with the profile of Stieltjes is by the Belgian sculptor Eugène Lacomblé (1828-1905). The column is a national monument.

At the initiative of the Rotterdam artist Joe Cillen, the firebreak, the Pharoah Sanders Alley, was transformed by nine artists from the Noordereiland into the Machine room MS Noordereiland, or the engine room of the Noordereiland motor vessel. With an area of ​​800 m2, it was the largest mural in Rotterdam in 2003, with virtual and historical information about the Noordereiland. The designs for the murals are inspired by the music of saxophonist Pharoah Sanders.

Ellen Vomberg (1960) painted within an ornamental frame in the De Ruyterstraat Out together, home together, on which the SS Rotterdam of the Holland-America Line is waved goodbye. The style of the painting is a homage to the famous posters of the Holland-America Line from the 1920s and 1930s.

At the initiative of visual artist Harry Sengers (1948), a plaque from 2007 marks the place where Achilles de Khotinsky's (1884-1850) electricity company was established on Prins Hendrikkade in 1933. With charged batteries he wanted to illuminate the city's trading quarter. Khotinsky produced the first Dutch light bulb. In the production of electricity he was opposed by the municipal authorities, which themselves preyed on the monopoly, after which he left for Germany.

Nicolas Dings (1953) made a three-part work of art in and near the Nassau harbour, consisting of a lighthouse, a watchdog and a terrazzo decoration in the pavement. The elements refer to the harbor as a hub of great adventures, small experiences and as a panorama of life. The figure on the lighthouse is decorated with an oil squirt and refers to the workers from the shipping industry, the 'oilmen', who did their work here.

In 2015, an original manual switch from the former port railway line was placed at the gate in the residential building designed by the Mecanoo architectural firm. The hand change stands on a salmon-coloured terazzo plinth, which represents a railway switch after a design by artist Nico Parlevliet (1948). This is a striking ode to the presence of the railway in the district.

In Rotterdam this may not be the best known image, but elsewhere it is different. The load carrier by sculptor Han Rehm was made for a port company that used it for its stationery and decals as far away as China and Africa. This statue originally stood on a silo in Katendrecht.

For conceptual photographer Jeff Wall, this monument is unique in his oeuvre. It symbolizes the millions of Europeans who left here for America in the 19th and 20th centuries to build a new life there. In the evening, the lonely lamppost casts light over the forgotten luggage, symbol of those left behind.

This ornamental frame on the Veerlaan contained the painting Bamboo and rock (1994) by visual artist Li de Cai. Katendrecht has had a large Chinese community since the 1920s. Because the painting could not be restored, it is in 2020 Tulip or Harmony Honey by the Rotterdam artist Evelyn Taocheng Wang. The bee represents the hard-working person who would like to build a beautiful house, as the red tulip is for the bee. The tulip, or the house, represents harmony. Of Tulip or Harmony Honey Wang wanted to highlight the concept of 'coexistence' in the neighborhood. With her mural she continues the long tradition of Chinese influences on Katendrecht, because for a long time this was an artists' and immigrant district, which many murals remind us of.

In the Tube Park Free sailing! Monument for the trade union leader Edo Fimmen (1881-1941) by Ben Zegers (1962). Between the two world wars, Fimmen was chairman of the International Transport Workers Federation, founded after the boat workers' strike in Rotterdam in 1896. Fimmen achieved great fame as a fighter against racism, fascism and colonial oppression. The boxing gloves are metaphors for steadfastness and determination. The monument was unveiled in the European Year against Racism (1998).

The image The rowers from 2000 by Yair Aschkanasy (1963) is located on the 1st Katendrechtse Hoofd. Rowers moor incoming ships in the port of Rotterdam. Rowing boats were used until the 1950s, later they were gradually replaced by motor boats. The rowing profession was created in 1874, when the municipality placed buoys in the Nieuwe Maas for ships that could not find a place at the quay due to the great lack of moorings. The Roeiers Vereeniging Eendragt was founded in 1895 with the aim of improving the position of rowers.

The image Cauldron Twinkle van Huib Noorlander (1928-2004) was placed on the Koninginnenhoofd near the head office in 1973 at the 100th anniversary of the Holland-America Line (HAL). After the departure of the HAL from Rotterdam, the statue moved to Willemsplein on the other side of the Nieuwe Maas. Angry Katendrechters hijacked the statue and brought it to Katendrecht, where they believed it belonged. Cauldron Twinkle is a figure from a song of four verses from 1940 by lyricist Anton Beuving (1902-1977) and composer Jan de Vogel (1902-1983). The first stanza reads: When we left Rotterdam on the Edam an old barge, with cockroaches in the midships and rats' nests ahead, then we had a little boy as a boiler boy on board with us, who went to sea for the first time and had never heard of sharks. His mother's on the quay which timidly smiled farewell, because he dared not kiss her, that street boy from Rotterdam.

In the Timorstraat, two ornamental frames contain paintings by Rotterdam artists. Dolf Henkes (1903-1989) and Daan van Golden (1936-2017) were born on the Kaap, the nickname of Katendrecht. Van Golden's painting is a fragment of one of his paintings. On the corner with the Atjehstraat we see Transfer at the port van Henkes from 1990. Both works were restored in 2017.

In the Timorstraat, two ornamental frames contain paintings by Rotterdam artists. Dolf Henkes (1903-1989) and Daan van Golden (1936-2017) were born on the Kaap, the nickname of Katendrecht. Van Golden's painting is a fragment of one of his paintings. On the corner with the Atjehstraat we see Transfer at the port by Henkes from 1990. Both paintings were restored in 2017.

Vogelklas Karel Schot is located in the former botanical garden of the Van Oldenbarnevelt HBS. The bird shelter is named after the teacher Karel Schot (1927-1980), who took in and cared for sick and injured birds in his class around 1950. On the outer wall is a painting by the Chilean artist Jorge Kata Núñez (1953), who came to the Netherlands from Chile in 1977 as a refugee. The painting consists of five parts: the destination, man and nature, the journey, the departure and the bird class. Singer Joke Bruijs (1952) unveiled the artwork on October 23, 2003. Núñez returned to Chile in 2012.

It has been on the Afrikaanderplein since the autumn of 2013 Monument for the guest worker, a design by Hans van Bentem (1965). Since 1945, Italians, Greeks, Spaniards, Portuguese, Yugoslavs, Turks and Moroccans have moved to Rotterdam, where they contributed to the reconstruction of the city. Like people from Brabant and Zeeland before them, they were initially regarded as 'guests', but gradually they too became Rotterdammers.

They were fun 'ball-playing figures' as sculptor Ek van Zanten had called this design. But when the municipality announced it wanted a monument for workers, he replaced the ball with a block of basalt and now they are commemorating the heavy manual construction of the ports. The statue is located on the Delta dike, which was built around 1960 in response to the flood disaster of 1953.