Imaging The Netherlands 018: Warming Hands on the Railway Station, Nijmegen

A personal selection of photographs with their stories.

018: Warming hands

It was quite cold in the final week of February and in the first week of March, when I visited The Netherlands for the first time since my arrival in Brazil six years earlier. For me, it was quite a thermal shock to leave Brazil in summer – with temperatures above thirty degrees – and to arrive in The Netherlands (slightly more than one day later) in winter  – with temperatures well below zero. I was used to sunny days, despite the rain season, and it was hard for me to cope with heavily clouded, sunless days with ice-cold rain showers. Therefore, I was wearing several shirts and sweaters, and a thick winter coat. Some people immediately considered me as a stranger, and started to try speaking English to me. On the railway station in Nijmegen, there was one favorite spot for me: the infra-red poles, where people could warm their hands. This was really useful for me!

© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017

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Imaging The Netherlands 017: Sitting Child Statue, Nijmegen (GL)

A personal selection of photographs with their stories.

017 : Zittend Kind Statue

When I went to work or to my room from the center of Nijmegen by bike, I always passed this little stone boy. The boy, in a squatting pose, is staring in front of him and seems to be lost in deep thoughts. But you expect that he suddenly may look at you or even jump up. When I walked the Four Days Marches, I walked along this statue, and I regarded him as a silent, unmoved supporter of us walkers. This artwork was made in 1969 by the famous Nijmegen artist Ed van Teeseling. It was recently included in a fourteen kilometer long bicycle route along fifteen Van Teeseling’s art pieces.

© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017

Imaging The Netherlands 016: Waste Bin for Motorists, Nijmegen (GL)

A personal selection of photographs with their stories.

016: Waste bin

Ter voorbereiding van mijn verdediging aan de universiteit, verbleef ik enige dagen in Nijmegen. Dagelijks was ik in de universiteitsbibliotheek te vinden, waar ik de benodigde literatuur raadpleegde. Het was een koude periode in de eerste week van maart, de temperatuur was slechts iets boven nul. De meeste dagen waren getekend door grauwe, grijze wolken, waaruit van tijd tot tijd ijskoud aanvoelende regen viel. Aangezien ik zo’n twee weken eerder vanuit een zeer zonnig en zomers Brazilië was gearriveerd, miste ik erg de zon en de warmte. Maar op een zeldzame zonnige dag in die week maakte ik een wandeling vanuit de universiteit naar de Waalkade, en ik genoot van de zwakke winterzon. De zon liet de omgeving in een letterlijk ander daglicht zien: het was veel kleuriger, vrolijker dan tijdens de grijze, sombere dagen. Toen ik de Heyendaalseweg volgde naar de Waalkade, viel mijn oog op deze afvalbak, die met de opening op de weg was gericht. In het midden was een soort roos gemonteerd, wellicht bedoeld voor het beter mikken van afval. En de mogelijke doelgroep? Heel waarschijnlijk automobilisten en ook fietsers.

In preparation for my defense at the university, I spent a few days in Nijmegen. Every day I was in the university library, where I consulted the necessary literature. It was a cold period in the first week of March, the temperature was only slightly above zero. Most days were marked by gray clouds, from which ice-cold rain fell from time to time. Since I arrived two weeks earlier from a very sunny and summery Brazil, I missed the sun and the warm temperatures. But on a rare sunny day in that week, I made a walk from the university to the Waalkade, and I enjoyed the weak winter sun. The sun showed the environment in a literally different light: it was much more colorful, more cheerful than during the gray, gloomy days. When I followed the Heyendaalseweg to the Waalkade, my eye fell on this waste bin, with the opening directed to the road. In the middle, a kind of rose was mounted, perhaps intended for better targeting waste. And the possible target group? Most probably motorists and also cyclists.

© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017

Imaging The Netherlands 015: Misty Waalkade, Nijmegen (GL)

A personal selection of photographs with their stories.

015: Misty Waalkade

When I was in Nijmegen in March 2010, for my final preparations prior to my PhD defense, the very cold days started with heavy mist. Despite being a native Dutch, it was very hard for me to stand the cold. I wore several layers of shirts and sweaters under my winter coat. It was only one week earlier that I was enjoying tropical summer days in Brazil. But this giant thermal shock didn’t stop me from walking around in Nijmegen on such a wintry day. The sunlight was very weak and had big trouble to dissolve the mist clouds. Especially along the Waalkade, the quays along the Waal River, where it was impossible to see the other side of the river. Even de water surface was covered with thin layers of mist clouds.

© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017

Imaging The Netherlands 014: Local Elections Billboard, Nijmegen (GL)

A personal selection of photographs with their stories.

014: Local elections billboard

Municipal elections are held in the Netherlands every four years. This often takes place at the beginning of March. The Dutch government is constantly working on the redistribution of municipalities. Almost every year some municipalities merge into larger existing or new municipalities. Fifty years ago, the Netherlands counted about a thousand municipalities, but nowadays the number even dropped below four hundred. Brazil, by contrast, has more than five thousand municipalities, with more than eight hundred in Minas Gerais alone. The largest Brazilian municipality – Altamira – is slightly smaller in surface area than Uruguay. Back to the Netherlands. fourteen national and local parties participated in the Nijmegen local elections. On a billboard as in the photo, it is quite difficult to attract most attention and thus most votes.

© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017

Imaging The Netherlands 012: Plein 1944 in NIJMEGEN (GL)

A personal selection of photographs with their stories.

012: Plein 1944

Plein 1944 -freely translated as 1944 Square – is one of the principal squares in the city of Nijmegen. On 22 February 1944, American Air Force planes dropped their bombs upon the center of Nijmegen. By mistake, because they thought that they were above German soil. In the same year, the city was liberated from the German occupation. The destroyed area became a central square between the Grote Markt square and the railway station. Initially, it was baptized into Koning Hendrik VII Plein (King Henry VII Square), who granted city rights to Nijmegen. Soon, the square was renamed into Plein 1944, referring to both the devastating bombing and the liberation in 1944. Gradually, the square became a lifeless parking lot, until the definitive reconstruction that was finished in 201. The square is now much smaller, surrounded by modern residences and a parking garage. At the time of my visit in 2010, a carpet of grass covered a great part of Plein ’44.

© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017

Imaging The Netherlands 011: Valkhof Castle Ruin in NIJMEGEN (GL)

A personal selection of photographs with their stories.

011: Valkhof Castle ruin

The Waal River, branching from the Rhine River,  flows along the city of Nijmegen. On one of the hills along the river, now close to the famous Waal Bridge, are the ruins of once a mighty castle: the Valkhof. It were the Romans who built a castellum about two thousand years ago. It was Charlemagne who had the Valkhof built on the hill, as an imperial palace. It was destroyed by the Vikings, and reconstructed by Emperor Frederic Barbarossa. It eventually was extended and strengthened. The French invaders attacked the castle in late 1700s, and the castle became greatly destroyed. Almost one century later, the remains were destroyed save two chapels. In 1800, a park was created on the grounds of the former castle. Nowadays, both the park and the ruins are considered as national monuments. There exist plans of reconstructing the castle; these plans generate significant public resistance.

© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017

Imaging The Netherlands 010: Two-Level Shopping Street in NIJMEGEN (GL)

A personal selection of photographs with their stories.

010: Mariken Street, the ‘Koopgoot’

In 2010, I stayed at my parent’s house, located near the Belgian border, which was about 100 km from the university city of Nijmegen, located near the German border. I had to be Nijmegen for some days, to have myself prepared for my PhD defense. From time to time, I took a little break, and despite the cold and rainy weather, I walked around in the small center of Nijmegen, that was founded by the Romans about two thousand years ago. Some streets in the center have been modernized; one of them is the Mariken Street, named after a fictional character of a Dutch medieval play.  The shops are found at two levels at both sides of the narrow street; footbridges and escalators facilitate the accessibility of the shops at both levels and both sides of the street.

© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017