Public lavatory by Erwin Olaf

‘Stap’ (Step) is the larger than life-sized and extremely stylised body of a young girl who is hardly awakened and anonymous because of her missing head, arms and hands. She is standing straight and proud. Academy teacher Peter Stut created the bluestone pedestal that is reminiscent of a catwalk. The posture and stylised representation are characteristic of the sculptures by Siepman van den Berg, who is predominantly interested in the patterns of the human body and the abstraction that results when individual features are omitted.

The relationship between surface and spaces plays an important role in the work by Danish artist Per Kirkeby, and this also applies to this untitled work at the Emmasingel. The work consists of two rows of six columns connected crosswise as well as lengthwise using arch constructions. Wall surfaces are applied between some of the columns in such a way that a wall is positioned opposite every opening, resulting in a spatial line pattern of open and closed sections and changing light and shadow.

This voluptuous woman with distinctive ultra-long lashes strides down the stairs of the Cascade complex at the Emmasingel. The sculpture was created by Silvia B. and placed here in 2004. Over eight metres high and seemingly an example of beauty, upon closer inspection it becomes clear that deficiencies are hidden behind this exterior.

Aletta Jacobs (1854-1929) became known as the first woman ever to be admitted to university, and who for the rest of her life championed for women’s suffrage and world peace. In 1871 Jacobs, who was born in Sappemeer, started studying medicine at the University of Groningen. She took her doctoral degree in 1879 and started a practice in Amsterdam, where she carried out important work in the area of women’s health care and birth control. The statue was created by sculptress Theresia van der Pant and in 1988 was placed on the forecourt of the Arts Faculty.

On 27 June 1909 the Academy Building was newly inaugurated after the building was entirely destroyed by fire in 1906. It was built according to the early seventeenth century North Netherlands Renaissance style the patrons used to refer to the period in which the university was established. Sculptor Petrus Ackermans designed five allegorical sculptures. Minerva  is standing in full suit of armour on top of the Academy Building with a helmet on and carrying a spear and coat of arms.  Scientia  and  Historia  represent science and history respectively. Prudentia stands for wise policy and Mathematica  for mathematics.

Artist Aryaan Harshage designed a bluestone floor decoration for the entrance of the public library. He placed two squares at the beginning and end of the access street from which various letters were cut away. The letters are mixed up on the first tile (in front of the entrance gate on the street side) and in the second tile they are neatly ordered from A to Z. The two diamond shapes are connected by two long and narrow bands, and perpendicular to these are two paths in front of the entrance toward the side of the entrance street in the direction of the wall. These lines emphasise the connection with the building’s architecture.

Some things do not catch the eye until the sun shines, such as in the case of this work by Saar Oosterhof. She applied rhinestones in irregular distances from one another in the Pelsterstraat pavement. The stones only shine when they catch a ray of sun. The built-in holograms provide the stones with depth and their shape changes with every movement. Each stone was handmade by the artist from a cast mixture of resin, colour pigments and glitter. The rhinestones mark the place of a former Groningen town rampart.

Artist Willem Valk applied tongues of fire and a crystal shape on this bronze commemorative tablet that symbolise the text on the bronze plate: ‘Toen rees uit oorlog en vuur / het helder kristal van de vrede’. (Then, from war and fire/rose the clear crystal of peace.) The text refers to the fierce battle that was involved in the liberation of the city of Groningen by the Canadian armed forces. On 13 April 1945 they entered the city, after which the disastrous battles for the Grote Markt took place. Many historic buildings went up in flames and the heart of the city was mutilated by shellfire. On Monday 16 April the Canadians surrounded and closed off the city centre and the last resistance broke.

Visitors entering the city of Groningen via the main railway station immediately make their acquaintance with a typical Groningen work of art: the Peerd van Ome Loeks (Uncle Loek’s horse), created in 1959 by artist Jan de Baat and located in the centre of the station square. Rumour has it that the sculpture was created in memory of the racehorse of a Lucas (Loeks) van Hemmen, a riding-master and owner of De Slingerij pub and livery stable in Groningen. His horse died in 1910 and when the horse butcher came to collect it, some boys were singing: ‘Uncle Loek’s horse is dead’. This became a well-known Groningen folk song. Other sources, however, state that the song is based on a German student song.