The Province of Fryslân has ranked its 13 most beloved monuments after it asked people to vote for which special buildings, works of art, neighbourhoods, or spots of greenery deserve being preserved for future generations.
Experts first curated a list of 50 possible monuments created between 1965 and 2000, the Province of Friesland said in a statement. Then, a total of 5,000 people visited the voting page and of these 520 cast their vote.
The results
According to the Province, these are the top 13 ‘young’ monuments that people wish to see preserved for the future.
- Dijktempel, Marrum
- Slauerhoffbrug, Leeuwarden
- Uniastate, Beers
- Pand Labadistendyk 2, Wiuwert
- Ecokathedraal, Mildam
- Former ING building, Leeuwarden
- TV Tower, Spannenburg
- Jopie Huisman Museum, Workum
- Lighthouse, Harlingen
- Achmeatoren, Leeuwarden
- Gebouw Tresoar, Leeuwarden
- Theater De Harmonie, Leeuwarden
- Crystallic, Leeuwarden
In first place is Marrum’s Dijktempel, a monument shaped like a temple created by Ids Willemsma that was erected to conclude the dike-raising project that took place between 1963 and 1993.
The Slauerhoffbrug bridge in Leeuwarden came in second. This bridge was built in 2000 and was designed by H.C. Kooijman from A90 Architecten. What’s special about this bridge is that its hinge point is not under the road surface, but on pylons on one side of the bridge. When opened, the road surface is lifted and placed in a vertical position.
Ranked third is the Uniastate in Beers – what once was an impressive estate owned by the Unia family is now a steel wireframe replica. It was designed by B. Mulder in 1990. The original gatehouse remains standing till today.
A cycling and car route is being created that takes you to all these monuments and is set to appear soon on the Visit Friesland website.
Featured image: Cuno de Bruin & Sjoerd Bracke, Visit Friesland
