Blauw Jan in Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 52° 21.781 E 004° 53.037
31U E 628279 N 5803085
Forty life-size monitors, agames and iguanas were sculpted by Hans Van Houwelingen in 1994 and placed in this small fenced off garden in Amsterdam.
Waymark Code: WMD5FA
Location: Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Date Posted: 11/21/2011
Views: 15
The small park is close to the larger and more popular Leidesplein, an area of many bars restaurants and nightclubs.
This small park is less well known and easily missed, unless like me you noticed the lizards and will then be stopped in your tracks. The park is named after a famous Dutch actress, and was formed when part of the canal Lijnbaansgracht was partly covered over in 1913.
Sculptor Hans Van Houwelingen won a competition to design an artwork for the park so that it would become more of a focal point. The name of the work Blauw Jan is a reference to a an inn from the 17th Century that had a small zoo in the courtyard at the back. When Amsterdam had become one of the major trading ports in Europe, many exotic animals, never seen in Europe before, started to be imported. The inn capitalised on this and had a constantly changing display of exotic animals.
The lizards are spread throughout the grass and are also perched on the low walls enclosing the park.
One of the lizards on the wall is baring its teeth, and when you look closely the teeth spell out the sculptor’s name. It is this lizard that I have used for the co-ordinates of the waymark.
The sculptor's web page gives fuller details of this art work. (
visit link)