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The ceremonial unveiling of the Masaryk Monument in Rotterdam

On November 5, 2015 the Monument ´T. G. Masaryk in Rotterdam´ was unveiled in presence of the President of the Senate of Parliament of the Czech Republic, Mr. Milan Štěch, on Geldersekade in the center of the city of Rotterdam. The Masaryk memorial refers to the former first Czechoslovak president´s historic stay in Rotterdam in 1914. The monument recalls the meeting between T. G. Masaryk and his friend, British publicist Robert Seton-Watson, at the famous Rotterdam hotel Weimar destroyed in a bombing in 1940. Masaryk here, in then neutral Netherlands, described his vision of organizing Central Europe and outlined the contours of a new state in the middle of Europe, later Czechoslovakia. Through the Rotterdam meeting his vision became known abroad.

The project is an initiative of the former Ambassador of the Netherlands to the Czech Republic, Mr. Jan C. Henneman, and the co-author of several books on the Czech-Dutch reality, Mr. Pieter J. Goedhart. The ceremonial unveiling of the memorial, designed by the Dutch visual artist Hans Citroen, was held on Geldersekade in the center of Rotterdam. It was attended by important guests from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Netherlands, including the ambassadors of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic in the Netherlands. Mr. Frans Weisglas, former Chairman of the Lower House of the Dutch Parliament, took part at the ceremony, together with the President of the Czech Senate, Mr. Milan Štěch. The event was also attended by a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, the vice-deputy minister Ms. Kristina Larischová, and the director of the Czech Centres, Mr. Zdeněk Lyčka.  A number of sponsors from both the Netherlands and Czech and Slovak Republics have been involved in financing the realisation of the monument, including the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassy of the Czech Republic to the Netherlands and the Czech Centres. On the occasion of the unveiling of the memorial a Czech-Dutch publication in both languages was issued in which the essayist Gert Andeweg focuses on the historical context of the meeting between Masaryk and Seton-Watson. In this booklet, full of contributions of interesting personalities, the initiators describe the background of creation of the memorial. Stichting Comenius Museum will be the owner of the monument.

In their presentations the speakers confessed of their admiration for the TGM and his legacy. They recalled the importance of an independent state of Czechs and Slovaks which was created on the ruins of the Habsburg monarchy in 1918, and expressed confidence that Masaryk´s ideals of democracy and humanism persist and continue to be particularly inspiring in contemporary Europe. TGM memorial in Rotterdam becomes another significant historical Czech track in the Netherlands, next to the monument of J.A. Comenius in Naarden and Havel's Place in The Hague. TGM Memorial consists of a digitally shaped outline of the First Czechoslovakia Republic brought out in bronze on the top of a column monument on which also a portrait of TGM and explanatory text in four languages ​​- Czech, Slovak, Dutch and English can be found. The bronze casting was made in art foundry in Horní Kalná in the Czech Republic. Special "peephole" then looks at the place where the famous Rotterdam hotel Weimar stood in which both the actors of the strictly clandestine meeting, Masaryk and Seton-Watson, were accommodated in the fall of 1914.

 

The unveiling of TGM Monument (from left - Gert Andeweg, Jan C. Henneman, Pieter J. Goedhart, Milan Štěch, Frans Weisglas, Hans Citroen, Marjolijn van der Meijden, Jana Reinišová, Roman Bužek, Hans van Oostveen

The unveiling of TGM Monument (from left - Gert Andeweg, Jan C. Henneman, Pieter J. Goedhart, Milan Štěch, Frans Weisglas, Hans Citroen, Marjolijn van der Meijden, Jana Reinišová, Roman Bužek, Hans van Oostveen

The President of the Czech Senate, Mr Milan Štěch, during the unveiling ceremony

The President of the Czech Senate, Mr Milan Štěch, during the unveiling ceremony 

The participants during the unveling ceremony

The participants during the unveling ceremony

Czech Ambassador Ms. jana Reinišová during the unveiling ceremony

Czech Ambassador Ms. jana Reinišová during the unveiling ceremony

The speeches of the organizers in the Mariniersmuseum

The speeches of the organizers in the Mariniersmuseum

Musical accompaniment by Jaroslav Hutka, Czech singer and composer

Musical accompaniment by Jaroslav Hutka, Czech singer and composer