Fortuna, by Dutch sculptor Hildebrand Lucien Krop1 (1884-1970) was commissioned by the city of Amsterdam for placement, in 1948, on the wall that separated the filled-in Rokin from the remaining stretch of water.
Difficult to spot , but this old postcard shows the Fortuna statue at Rokin
Krop was the town sculptor at the time, and one can find many of his works throughout the city.2
The commission was meant as a token of appreciation for the many works of art the sculptor had provided to the city.
In 1972, a statue of Queen Wilhelmina on horseback replaced Fortuna.
Fortuna, a statue by Hildebrand Lucien Krop
Fortuna was moved down the street, to the bridge next to the Munt tower.
When after a while a concession stand hid Fortuna from view, someone stole it by sawing the statue off of its pedestal.
The theft was reported to police in 1989.
Fortuna was eventually found at an antique shop in Belgium.
It was retrieved by two civil servants and returned to Amsterdam. “We did not pay one cent for it,” one of them declared. “The antiquarian said he knew nothing, but he clearly was in the wrong.”
Currently the statue is located just east of the bridge to Doelenstraat, where it overlooks Munt square.
By the way, Fortuna is the Roman goddess of luck and coincidence, the latter sometimes interpreted as bad luck.
– Information from Het Amsterdams beeldenboek: Vier eeuwen buitenbeelden (1600-heden)
Notes:
- He normally went by the name Hildo Krop ↩
- See ‘Fotogallerij’ in this Wikipedia entry ↩
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