art project lights up iconic 85yearold dutch dyke
Thursday 20 February 2025
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

one of the country's landmark engineering projects

Art project lights up iconic 85-year-old Dutch dyke

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Art project lights up iconic 85-year-old Dutch dyke

A project by Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde and his team lit up the floodgates of the Afsluitdijk dyke in The Netherlands.
Afsluitdijk - Arab Today

Dutch artists unveiled a design and light show Thursday to highlight one of the country's landmark engineering projects, built more than 80 years ago as part of The Netherlands' famed sea defences.

As daylight faded, the art project to celebrate the Afsluitdijk -- a bridge which runs 32 kilometres (20 miles) across a gulf in the northern Netherlands -- was lit up by the lights of passing cars driving across the famous divide.

The "Icoon Afsluitdijk" project is designed to shine at night "to enhance and safeguard" the dyke's "rich heritage and anchor its position in the world as a Dutch water engineering and design icon," its creators said.

Commissioned by the Dutch government, the project consists of a number of art installations, of which the last, called "Gates of Light", was unveiled Thursday.

Artist Daan Roosegaarde and his team applied a reflective layer to the Afsluitdijk's 60 imposing floodgates, which allows the concrete gates to brightly light up at night in the retro style of the 1930s, when the dyke was first built by hand.

There are also a number of temporary installations including one called "Windvogel" (Wind Bird) in which huge kites generate enough electricity to light up their specially designed anchor lights with luminous colours.

Roosegaarde said the structure, which was completed on May 28, 1932, "needed a renovation".

"We restored the historical floodgates, renovated them, removed the rotten concrete and added a layer of reflective material," he told AFP.

Referring to the importance of dykes, which help keep out the water in a country where 26 percent of the land is below sea level, Roosegaarde said: "Dykes in The Netherlands are as holy as cows in India."

The Afsluitdijk (literally, "cut-off dyke") was built to keep out the North Sea and create an inland lake and polders, or land reclaimed from the sea.

It secures hundreds of square kilometres of inland coastline inside its boundaries, creating the vast but shallow IJsselmeer, which quickly turned into a freshwater reservoir.

Across the dyke stretches a multi-lane highway providing a shortcut between North Holland and Friesland, letting travellers shave almost 300 kilometres from their journey.

Even after 85 years it is still considered one of the world's civil engineering wonders.

Source: AFP

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

art project lights up iconic 85yearold dutch dyke art project lights up iconic 85yearold dutch dyke

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

art project lights up iconic 85yearold dutch dyke art project lights up iconic 85yearold dutch dyke

 



GMT 12:38 2017 Friday ,10 November

George Wasooof denies statement against Bin Talal

GMT 07:13 2017 Tuesday ,31 October

Youssra resumes filming “Haj Noman Family”

GMT 14:44 2017 Sunday ,12 February

Turkmenistan’s leader set to win re-election

GMT 15:23 2017 Saturday ,14 October

Escentric Molecules takes PR in-house

GMT 12:18 2017 Tuesday ,04 April

NHL won't participate in 2018 Olympic Games

GMT 12:45 2018 Monday ,26 November

Israeli forces close entrance of village in Ramallah

GMT 09:39 2017 Friday ,29 December

Hunt on for new Golkar chairman, House Speaker

GMT 16:21 2016 Thursday ,15 September

Saudi Health Minister Announces Hajj Season Epidemic Free

GMT 21:01 2017 Sunday ,05 March

Dubai Holding and Dubai Municipality sign MoU

GMT 11:25 2017 Monday ,04 September

NU urges Myanmar to stop Rohingya massacre

GMT 22:05 2017 Wednesday ,03 May

ICT minister meets Egyptian delegation

GMT 11:21 2017 Friday ,07 April

Dead Sea to come alive with concert

GMT 21:07 2017 Tuesday ,24 January

Kuwaiti Oil Went Up 51 Cents to USD 50.79 per Barrel

GMT 16:13 2017 Monday ,17 July

Cisco and BTC Networks strengthen relationship

GMT 11:15 2015 Thursday ,29 October

Scientists appeal for ambitious microbiome study

GMT 09:33 2017 Wednesday ,26 April

Meet the Trumps: the White House family business

GMT 03:26 2017 Wednesday ,23 August

Jailed Hong Kong activist Wong back in court
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday