Giant kissing couple statue installed on the edge of the IJ in Amsterdam

A giant statue of a kissing couple has been craned into place on the edge of the IJ waterway in Amsterdam. The 10-metre high sculpture, which has been modelled on the famed Delftware souvenir of a farmer and his wife kissing, was erected on Hempontplein along the Zaanstad to Amsterdam Centrum cycle lane.

The idea behind the huge artwork—which weighs around 6700 kilograms—was to put a lesser known area of Amsterdam on the map. It was commissioned by the bicycle coalition FietsCoalitie, a non-profit organisation in the Dutch capital, which aims to encourage locals to cycle more.

Speaking about the sculpture, Sandra Heuber of Bright Up, the company that fitted the statue, told the Parool: ‘We wanted to create an affectionate place in this unloved part of the port. They are a much loved, iconic pair known the world over as a symbol of the Netherlands.’

Amsterdam is home to a plethora of sculptures, including a cast iron statue from 1852 of the famous painter Rembrandt van Rijn on Rembrandtplein and Het Zaagmannetje (Little Woodcutter), a tiny bronze artwork of a man sawing through a branch of a tree close to the Leidseplein.

Other famous works of art include The Violinist bursting from the floor of the Stopera concert hall, the blue-suited invisible man Man met Vioolkist (Man with Violin Case) along Tweede Marnixplantsoen, and De Dokwerker on Daniël Meijerplein, a memorial of a Haarlem contractor which commemorates the February Strike of 1941 where workers protested the anti-Jewish actions of the Nazis in Amsterdam.