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At fifteen meters, it is an imposing work of art, the monument to the memory of Duke Karel Bernard of Saxe Weimar Eisenach on Lange Voorhout near the former U.S. Embassy. The main part of the monument is formed by an obelisk. That architect Hugo Vogel chose the obelisk is not surprising. As a teacher of architecture at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, he had a clear predilection for classicism, a style inspired by the art and architecture of classical antiquity. And in it, this form appears regularly.
On top of the obelisk of sandstone are a number of attributes made of bronze. The flags, arms, a wreath and a helmet refer to the duke, who enjoyed great prestige as a warlord. At a lesser height, his bronze portrait medallion is placed with laurel wreaths to its left and right, symbolizing victory. Attributes and medallion are by painter/sculptor Johan Koelman, who also created the Independence Monument on Plein 1813. Koelman was also director of the Academy of Fine Arts in the court city for many years.
Duke Saxe Weimar was honored with a monument in 1866 because of his merits for our country. As a colonel, he achieved good results in the battles of Quatre-Bras and Waterloo (1815) and was promoted to major general. During the Belgian Revolt, he defeated the Belgians at Leuven and helped keep Maastricht in Dutch hands. After the secession of Belgium, he reorganized the Dutch army. After the secession of Belgium, he reorganized the Dutch army. In late 1848, he traveled to the Dutch East Indies. There, as commander of the Royal Dutch East Indies Army (KNIL), he was involved in the final phase of three punitive expeditions against some Balinese principalities. His assignment was to favor diplomacy over gunplay. This temporarily ended the fighting that had caused many casualties among the native population. The kris visible in the weapons trophy, which was also used as a traditional stabbing weapon in Bali, refers to the years when the duke was active in the Dutch East Indies.