PRESS RELEASE Utrecht, 10 September 2020 'THE FORTIFIED CITY. HISTORY OF A CITY’S DEFENCES' ON SHOW FROM 12 SEPTEMBER CENTRAAL MUSEUM EXPLORES THE QUEST FOR SAFETY 12 SEPTEMBER TO 17 JANUARY (HR images available for download here) On 12 September, Centraal Museum Utrecht opens the exhibition The Fortified City. History of a city’s defences. The exhibition explores man’s age-old quest for safety and protection and the role fulfilled by city fortifications for many centuries. The story is told in much detail, presenting historical weaponry, 3D reconstructions, animations, miniatures, drawings, paintings and archaeological finds. It runs from a relief of Cain and Abel to an airplane engine: the weapon that finally made city walls obsolete. As the oldest municipal museum in the Netherlands, Centraal Museum has a vast collection on which to draw to recount this history. Utrecht was also the first city in the Netherlands granted the right to build city fortifications. The exhibition includes many outstanding loan pieces from private and museum collections from both within and outside the Netherlands, including drawings and paintings by Salomon van Ruysdael, Herman Saftleven and Joost Cornelisz. Droochsloot. The Fortified City is on show until 17 January 2021. Left: Reconstruction of a square tuff stone wall with tower, 12th century. Daan Claessen Erfgoed Utrecht. Right: J.C. Droochsloot, The Siege of Castle Vredenburg in Utrecht in 1577, 1646. Collection Centraal Museum. The battle begins: weapons and protection For a long time people used weapons that were actually designed for other purposes, such as axes, spears and bow-and-arrow. A weapon made specifically to fight other people was first produced around 4000 years ago, in the Bronze Age: a sword. As the first real battle weapon, the exhibition displays the Bronze Age sword as symbolising the 1 van 6 start of the arms race. Ceremonial weapons dating from prehistory are also shown, such as the famous Jutphaas sword found near Utrecht in 1947. This immensely valuable sword, of which only six comparable ones have been found, reveals much about the significance of fighting and fighters in the society of that time. Further, Roman and early medieval weapons are on display, including a recently found battle axe from the 9th century. Jutphaas Sword, Source: National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden. Middle Ages: massive constructions and guilds The citizens of Utrecht were granted city rights by the German Emperor Henry V in 1122. No less than five kilometres of city fortifications were built around the new city, consisting of a moat and earthen ramparts with tuff stone walls and towers. Following the invention of brick around 1200, steadily more sections were reconstructed using this much cheaper building material. After a number of large building campaigns, by the 15th century the fortifications consisted of fifty towers, walls measuring more than 10 metres tall, several guard posts and five large gates. Medieval Utrecht was a formidable fortress city, not easily taken, as both Count William IV of Holland and Emperor Maximilian discovered when they laid siege to the city in 1345 and 1483, respectively. Even with William’s thirteen massive catapults (or ‘trebuchets’), Utrecht manages to stand its ground. The exhibition includes a life-size catapult, on show in the museum garden. These massive devices were used to hurl heavy stones and burning bundles of wood into the city, to force the city to surrender. The catapult on display broke a world record in 2004, when it shot a bowling ball over a distance of 412 metres. From 1304 on, the task of guarding the city fell to 21 guilds. The exhibition displays the guild seals of these associations of traders and craftsmen, with obligatory membership for virtually all Utrecht citizens. The guilds were responsible for guard duties and for 2 van 6 maintaining the section of the fortifications assigned to them. The displays include the weaponry of these medieval citizen militias, as well as a horn used by the night watchmen to warn each other in the event of danger. To get some idea of what the guild members were required to guard, precise 3D reconstructions have been made of the fortifications in the late Middle Ages. Lambert de Hondt II, The Surrender of Utrecht in 1672 (detail), Centraal Museum Utrecht. Photo: Jan-Kees Steenman. New walls The introduction of cannons in the 15th century meant that the city walls had to be lowered and reinforced with large earthen ramparts on the inside. In 1529, Emperor Charles V ordered the construction of Vredenburg Castle, whose cannons were mainly aimed at the city itself. This way, the new Habsburger authority sought to put an end to the centuries-old strife within the city. Charles also instructed the modernisation of the entire city fortifications under the direction of the Utrecht architect, Willem van Noort, including turrets and highly advanced bastions. And not without reason, since the arch enemy of the Habsburg Empire, the French king Francis I, was a long-time ally of the Duchy of Guelders, not far from Utrecht. Cannon balls, paintings and drawings by Joost Cornelisz Droochsloot, Abraham Bloemaert and Jan van Bijlert, as well as parts of a sculpture that once adorned Vredenburg Castle’s main gate combine to create a picture of the turbulent times from the 15th century on. There is also a 3D animation to explain how these advanced bastions functioned. Decay When the French king Louis XIV amassed his army at Utrecht’s gates in 1672, the city fortifications were no longer fit for purpose. Because Captain-General William III withdrew his State army to behind the Dutch Water Line, thereby deserting Utrecht, the city 3 van 6 government decided to surrender to the French almost immediately. This event is depicted by Lambert de Hondt II in his painting The Surrender of Utrecht to the French Army on 24 June 1672, purchased by the museum in late 2018. Period document Throughout the ages, hundreds of artists have been inspired by Utrecht’s fortifications. Salomon van Ruysdael painted the city’s striking defensive towers in the midst of imaginary landscapes, while Joost Cornelisz Droochsloot used the walls and gates as a striking background to his pictures of people skating on the moat. Herman Saftleven’s fascination for the fortifications was such that he spent many hours for many years drawing everything in great detail. His drawings form a marvellous period document, allowing us to still stroll across the 17th-century walls, 400 years later. More than forty of his drawings from eight different collections are displayed in the exhibition. Left: Pieter Jan van Liender, View of the City Wall of Utrecht with Zonnenburg Bastion on the right, 1758. Private collection. Right: Herman Saftleven, Servaas Gate with Manenburg Bastion in the background, date unknown. Het Utrechts Archief. Link to the present The exhibition includes four short films in which several specialists discuss the historical subjects and their relevance for today. The specialists are Philosopher Laureate Daan Roovers, Chief of Defence Rob Bauer, urban planner and professor Zef Hemel, and historian and professor Beatrice de Graaf. Walls of today The exhibition includes many contemporary perspectives on the history of the city fortifications. Inspired by Trijn van Leemput who, in 1577, took the lead to demolish the hated Vredenburg Castle, the exhibition includes the portraits and stories of ten Utrecht women who are each devoted to breaking down walls today, albeit metaphorically. The photographs are by Silver Camera Award winner Ilvy Njiokiktjien (Utrecht, 1984). After the exhibition, the portraits will travel to various neighbourhoods of Utrecht. 4 van 6 Portrait of Trijn van Leemput, anonymous, c.1650. The Annex In the Annex, at the end of the exhibition, Basel Abbas (1983 Cyprus) and Ruanne Abou- Rahme (1983, United States) show how walls and borders continue to have a profound impact on a population and on the individual mind. This artist duo grew up in Ramallah, Palestine, and their work portrays the constant political and social upheaval in their homeland. They create remarkable installations using video, texts, archive material, objects, song and dance. Generous support Centraal Museum could not have created this exhibition without the permanent support of the City of Utrecht and the BankGiro Loterij, and the sponsor MUNT Hypotheken. In addition, the following parties contributed specifically to this exhibition: Mondriaan Fonds, Van Baaren Stichting, KF Hein Fonds, Stichting Zabawas, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Utrecht, Elise Mathilde Fonds, Stichting Steunfonds Oud Utrecht, Fentener van Vlissingen Fonds, Ridderschap van Utrecht, Stichting Sanssouci, Provinciaal Utrechts Genootschap, Carel Nengerman Fonds, Stichting Ammodo, De Cirkel and Club Centraal. Centraal Museum is grateful for the exceptional loans by: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich Clemens-Sels-Museum, Neuss Erfgoed gemeente Utrecht Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt, Paris Het Utrechts Archief, Utrecht Hoogsteder Museum Stichting, Den Haag John & Marine Fentener van Vlissingen Foundation Koninklijke Bibliotheek Den Haag Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht Nationaal Archief, Den Haag Nationaal Militair Museum, Soesterberg Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, Den Haag Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 5 van 6 Sammlung der Fürsten zu Salm-Salm Wasserburg Anholt Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main Podcast Visitors can continue to enjoy the exhibition outside the museum! Curator of City History René de Kam joined former NOS journalist Jeroen Wielaert in making six podcasts about remarkable historical sites in and around the city of Utrecht. For example, they visit the place near the village of Westbroek where a huge battle took place in 1481, killing some 1000 Utrecht citizens. The podcasts are available on www.centraalmuseum.nl. Book The exhibition coincides with the publication of the same-titled book (in Dutch only): De ommuurde stad. Geschiedenis van een stadsverdediging (Het Spectrum publishers).