Museum Beelden aan Zee
(Sculptures by the Sea)
Museum Beelden aan Zee, a Beautiful Shell Hidden in The Dunes
Museum Sculptures by the Sea is beautifully located in Scheveningen’s dunes, close to the North Sea. The building, designed by architect Wim Quist, has the form of a shell that is partly covered by sand. Theo Scholten and Lida Scholten-Miltenburg founded the museum in 1994 to exhibit their collection of modern, contemporary, (inter)national sculptures from 500 well-known and lesser-known artists worldwide. These artists attempt to decipher human appearance and psyche through their sculptures.
After coffee and apple pie, we strolled through the museum and saw the permanent collection inside and on the museum’s rooftop outside. I was particularly impressed by the table with all the detailed figurines. I could study this statue for hours. However, with too much to see in too little time, we continued our stroll through the museum.
We entered the exhibition of Elmar Trenkwalder, the “Garden of Earthly Delights.” The title is well chosen: we were surrounded by impressive statues with prominent phallus elements. The crowd of teenagers on their school trip could not stop giggling when the museum’s tour guide pointed out the statues’ details.
