Nelson Mandela statue in The Hague

A gigantic 3.5-metre high bronze statue of South Africa’s Anti-Apartheid leader and first black president Nelson Mandela is now proudly standing at its new place in The Hague’s International Zone.

Nelson Mandela statue being placed by Omniversum. Photo by Nu.nl.

A team worked on 10 July to place the statue in a specially-created area near the Omniversum and the Bel Air Hotel on the Johan de Wittlaan. His face is turned in the direction of the Peace Palace. The statue will be officially unveiled on 25 September by the South African human rights activist Desmond Tutu. Nelson Mandela is unable to travel to The Hague for the unveiling due to his frail health.

Making Mandela

The Dutch sculptor and painter Arie Schippers was commissioned by the private foundation, the Stichting Standbeeld Nelson Mandela, to make the monument to Mandela in The Hague.

Museum Beelden aan Zee is celebrating this event by displaying some of the preliminary studies for this assignment and other recent sculptural work. The plaster studies of Mandela by Arie Schippers show how the monument came about and which stages (of thought) the artist went through. The pieces are on exhibit until 30 September 2012.

Arie Schippers (1952) studied at the Akademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Rotterdam and the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. In 1977 he won the gold medal of the Prix de Rome for painting.