Zadkine, a French-Russian sculptor, deeply felt the trauma of the 1940 Allied bombings. On his way by train, he passed Rotterdam and saw a city without a soul, which inspired him to create this monument - ‘A cry of horror against inhuman cruelty’. The artwork was designed in terracotta in 1946, and a plaster model was followed by a bronze version in 1953, donated by the Bijenkorf department store.
On 15 May 1953, Mayor Van Walsum unveiled the statue. Every year on 14 May, the day of the bombing, Rotterdammers and visitors form a silence at this monument. The artwork, a national monument since 2010, symbolizes the ‘city without a heart’ and recalls the loss of the historic centre.
Zadkine deliberately chose a human figure in cubist style, with dynamic lines and screaming silence. The empty space in the torso represents the devastated heart of Rotterdam; a visual painkiller for a city in ruins. The sculpture rests on a tree trunk, as if the city is clinging to its past.
Located on Plein 1940 near Leuvehaven, just in front of the Maritime Museum, the figure looks out over the Maas, towards the water and the horizon. Once briefly moved for construction work, the sculpture returned to its original spot, determined by Zadkine, in 2007.
The Destroyed City is not just a statue - it is the heart of Rotterdam, battered and hollow, one that keeps beating in the memory. A monument you don't just walk past, but where you can briefly feel and appreciate the city feeling.
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