The Battery

The Daily Plant : Friday, November 17, 2000

DUTCH-AMERICAN HERITAGE DAY¡¦S A ROYAL SUCCESS FOR PARKS

Photo by Amanda (Greenpoint) Tedeschi

DUTCH-AMERICAN HERITAGE DAY'S A ROYAL SUCCESS FOR PARKS

In the presence of Dutch royalty, Commissioner Henry J. (StarQuest) Stern welcomed visitors yesterday to Battery Park, threshold of Manhattan and port of immigration to generations of Europeans. With him were Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet, sister of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands; Her Royal Highness Princess Christina, sister of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands; His Highness Prince Floris, son of Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet and Mr. Pieter van Vollenhoven; and The Honorable Pieter van Vollenhoven, husband of Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands. Together they unveiled the newly restored monument and recognized the far-reaching influence of the Dutch on local culture.

The Netherlands Monument was originally a gift from the Dutch to the people of New York in 1926. A consortium of generous individuals and companies, under the auspices of the Netherlands Memorial Foundation and the Netherlands Consulate General, funded the renovations for its continued health and beauty. Monuments conservation technicians Elizabeth (Statuesque) Short and Martha Seelenberger working under the direction of head conservator Mark Rabinowitz and with assistance from John Cole cleaned and poulticed the stone. They repatined the bronze emblems and repaired and regilded the Dutch and English inscriptions. Overseeing them were Karen (Patina) Lemmey and Jonathon (Archive) Kuhn. This work marks the 33rd monument restored through the City Parks Foundation since 1997.

Two boroughs, the Bronx and Brooklyn (Breuckelen), numerous streets, and the New York Knickerbockers professional basketball team derive their names from the Dutch. Old Dutch-style Houses like the Dyckman Farmhouse (c. 1785) in northern Manhattan and the Wyckoff House (c. 1652) in Flatbush, Brooklyn survive a bygone era. Monuments to the Dutch legacy dot the landscape, and include Gertrude Vanderbilt's statue of Dutch director-general Peter Stuyvesant, commissioned for the 1939 New York World's Fair. Above all, New York City's preeminence in commerce is a direct outgrowth of its origins as a Dutch mercantile trading outpost.

For many years referred to as the Netherlands Memorial, Parks rechristened the work with a name that better reflects the spirit of continued association between Dutch and American culture: the Netherlands Monument. With this monument, not only does Parks memorialize a piece of history, it pays tribute to a lasting cultural relationship.

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO IN THE PLANT
(Friday, November 20, 1987)

CHRISTOPHER A. FALCIANO NAMED DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

After two months as Acting Director of Communications, Chris A. Falciano has been officially promoted to Director, Chief of Citywide Services, William Dalton announced today. He replaces former Communication Director Stephen Ciaccio who is now working as Director of Communications for the city of Smyrna, Georgia.

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"If your job is to leaven ordinary lives with elevating spectacle, be elevating or be gone."

George F. Will (b. 1941)

Know Before You Go

The Battery