National Monument (Amsterdam)

Dam Square is the historic centre of the Dutch national capital of Amsterdam. Until 1914 another national monument stood on the Dam, De Eendracht or popularly Naatje van de Dam, commemorating the Ten Days' Campaign. Shortly after the end of World War II in 1945, a liberty pole was erected on Dam Square. The Dutch government proposed that a permanent national World War II monument be placed there. While planning was ongoing, a temporary monument was erected on the Dam in 1947, designed by A. J. van de Steur and Auke Komter. It consisted of 11 urns with soil from World War II execution grounds and war cemeteries in each of the Dutch provinces. The monument has undergone two restorations, in 1965 and in 1997–1998. During the restoration in the 1990s, the entire monument was disassembled, and the brick interior of the central pillar was replaced with concrete. == Design ==

The monument was designed by Dutch architect Jacobus Oud; the monument's sculptures are by John Rädecker and his sons Han and Jan Willem Rädecker. The reliefs are by the sculptor Paul Grégoire. and a twelfth urn with soil from the Dutch East Indies, present-day Indonesia. Inscription The pillar carries an inscription in Latin: Hic ubi cor patriae monumentum cordibus intus quod gestant cives spectet ad astra dei. (freely translated: "Here, where the heart of the fatherland is, may this monument, which citizens carry in their heart, gaze at God's stars") The wall behind the pillar also carries a Dutch-language inscription, a text by the poet Adriaan Roland Holst. On the back side of the wall is an inscription of a verse of Dutch poetry by Anthonie Donker, a pseudonym of Nico Donkersloot. File:Amsterdam - Lion's statue - Head.jpg|One of the two lion sculptures at the National Monument File:Dam Monument, right-hand man.jpg|The right-hand figure, symbolizing the resistance of the working classes File:Eerste Krans door de Koning.jpg|Remembrance of the Dead commemoration ceremony on 4 May 2014 File:Navalny Dam.jpg|Flowers and messages left at the National Monument after the death of Alexei Navalny ==References and footnotes==