Читать книгу Where in the World is the Berlin Wall? - Группа авторов - Страница 34

The Gravensteen, the Count of Flanders’ castle, stands defiant in the centre of the Belgian city of Ghent. For centuries, counts have summoned people to Flanders’ court within its mighty walls. Flemish landgraves were feared for their cruel administration of justice. Countless prisoners were held in the dungeons between 1407 and 1708 – many of them suffered agonising torture. Today, the torture and prison cells make up part of a torture museum and can be visited in the castle.

Mistreatment of prisoners is by no means a problem of the past. Even today, political prisoners are detained worldwide, robbed of their human rights and even killed. The human rights organisation “Amnesty International” works to protect the rights of such prisoners. In 1998, Amnesty International and the “Honest Arts Movement” (a Belgian artists’ association) initiated the construction of a memorial to commemorate all the “missing people” worldwide, who have been abducted, imprisoned or murdered due to their beliefs, religion, race or other reasons.

Due to its historical significance, the Gravensteen in Ghent was chosen as the location for the memorial. Belgian artist Freddy de Vos from Drongen took on the task of designing it.

He placed an aluminium sculpture on a cascading base, in the middle of which the silhouette of a person has been cut out. He left the sculpture empty on the inside. To celebrate the official opening on 3^rd May 1996, local school children placed letters inside which were addressed to political prisoners. The project, “Schrijfzevrijdag” (directly translated: “write them free”), was brought to life by Amnesty International Belgium. The artist himself left a small bronze sculpture as well as three small chunks of the Berlin Wall which had been given to him by a German colleague for the project. Two further small chunks were integrated and are visible from the outside. Alongside this are small stones from South Africa, where human rights activist and later President Nelson Mandela was imprisoned by the Apartheidregime.