On Saturday September 14th at 14.30:XNUMX PM, during Heritage Day, the restored Beehive stone unveiled that once adorned the facade of the former De Bijenkorf warehouse. On the Coolsingel, this monumental stone protruded from the facade of the department store by architect Willem Marinus Dudok from 1930 to 1960, at the time one of the most modern department stores in Europe.

The building was badly damaged by the bombing in 1940, rebuilt and finally completely demolished in the late XNUMXs. The group of statues, the only physical remnant of the Bijenkorf warehouse, was transferred to a Bijenkorf distribution site in Woerden. For years, architecture and history enthusiasts have made efforts to restore the Beehive stone to get back to Rotterdam.

During this process, BKOR, a program of CBK Rotterdam, acted as an advisor. In collaboration with Urban Development, a suitable location was sought and a designer of the pedestal on which the Bijenkorf stone will be placed. Designer Jan Konings came up with a pedestal on which the stone can be seen to its best advantage in the present day, with a reference to the modernist department store of Dudok, where the Beehive stone was once part of.

Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to register to attend the preceding program in Donner bookstore, because the maximum number of registrations has been reached.

About the Beehive Stone

The monumental Beehive stone has as title The working manThe two by six metre work was designed in 1928 by the Haarlem sculptor Hendrik van den Eijnde (1869-1939) and gives a good impression of how the merchandise was transported from all over the world to the Bijenkorf at the time: by steam train, ocean liner and plane. On the other side of the sculpture group a procession of craftsmen is depicted, led by a musician. The name of the department store is mentioned in art deco letters on the head.

About the artist

Hendrik Albertus van den Eijnde (1869-1939) is best known as a sculptor of monuments and facade decorations for residential and commercial buildings. The artist headed the sculptor's studio where the sculptures were made for the Scheepvaarthuis in Amsterdam, which was completed in 1916. The studio, where Hildo Krop, Anton Rädecker and Joop van Lunteren also worked, gave a great impetus to the revival of stone sculpture. Van den Eijnde also made sculptures for the former main post office, now a library in Utrecht. His heyday as a sculptor runs parallel to that of the Amsterdam School.