Minervalaan 5: Installing

Chisel marks

The eight statues of Muschelkalk that we made for the Minervalaan in Amsterdam were ready to be installed.

We had carefully copied them all exsactly like the reconstructions we had made earlier with plaster, and of course even more care was given to the final result than we could in plaster.

We also achieved a beautiful finish with the tooling marks left by the various chisels. Finally, we also provided the flat parts and the six cover plates with tooling marks, or a decorative stroke with a broad chisel, a chisel of 6 cms wide.

Winter is setting in

After the Muschelkalk statues had been inspected and approved, winter had now set in, so we had to wait until early March before they could be installed back in their old place.

In the meantime, a contractor was working hard behind the scenes to remove the old cast iron downspout and repair the cracked masonry.

Yet there was still a piece of downpipe in the way, but Jelle made short work of it.

Cutouts

Because we had previously inserted some stainless steel screw supports to support the weight of the facade, we could not easily put the new sculptures in place.

We had to cut recesses in the back of most parts so that we had room to bypass the stainless steel supports.

I had measured it all out and prepared it in the workshop.

Hoisting

After arriving, we first removed the last remains of the old tuff stone sculptures, after which we could place the statues into place one by one.

Sometimes we had to adjust a small thing on the spot, but all in all it went well.

We secured the statues to the main structure and the existing stone with stainless steel anchors.

Light

Once we had 14 put all parts in place, we neatly grouted and cleaned everything.

It was striking that this fairly coarse Muschellime stone had a beautiful artisanal appearance that blended seamlessly into their environment, with its working-class art and tuffstone carvings.

The lighting also came into its own beautifully on location. It was clear to see that these statues were designed to be viewed from below.

A cap made of lead

However, a few were still concerned about drainage and weathering. A new collection container was installed for the old leaking downspout and a downspout will also be installed on the outside.

But the statues also have a flat top. How to solve that? A plumbing company has done a wonderful job by neatly covering everything with a 'cap’ of lead.

This way the underlying work remains dry and preserved for the next hundred years, and hopefully much longer.

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