City marker S04 Polyhymnia

About this artwork.

The city marker of Thom Puckey is recognisable as a characteristic Groningen factory chimney as it was built in the nineteenth century at countless stone, strawboard and potato flour factories. During the execution, Puckey received help from an architect to secure the construction, and from a bricklayer, who skilfully masoned the seventeen-metre-high, narrow, round pipe out of red bricks.
 
Nine bronze branches proliferate from windows upwards along the factory pipe. The sculpture seems to refer to the fate that struck countless factories in the Groningen countryside in the last century; they ceased production and gradually fell into ruin.
  
The title, Polyhymnia, refers to one of the nine muses from Greek mythology. Her name means “rich in hymns”. Polyhymnia was considered the inventor of the lyre and agriculture. 
The artwork can be regarded as a monument or song of praise to Groningen's industrial agricultural past.
 

The work forms part of the Stadsmarkeringen, The Books of Groningen, marking the city boundaries, project.

Facts & Figures.

• Design
  Thom Puckey

• District
  De Held, Gravenburg & Reitdiep

• Year of creation
  1990

• Art type
  Freestanding sculpture

• Material
  Brick, Bronze

• Dimensions
  h 17,00 m