Artwork Data
Artwork Location
Address
Lange Voorhout, Den Haag
City district
Centrum
GPS data
52.082510499504, 4.3132835947205 View on map
Artwork Description
Text
After many years of 'drought', anyone who is thirsty can pump a sip of clean drinking water again on Lange Voorhout. The municipality and Dunea have joined forces for this purpose. The municipality had the water pump, which dates from 1715, restored and the water company provided a modern water connection. On 12 September 2018, the former mayor Krikke poured the first glass of municipal lager.
The pump is one of only three town pumps still in existence in The Hague. Whereas city pumps were still part of the daily cityscape up until the last quarter of the nineteenth century, they rapidly disappeared after 1874. The more houses Duinwaterleiding van 's-Gravenhage (DWL) connected to the waterworks, the more pumps lost their function. By 1877, their number had fallen to 61 iron and 11 stone pumps.
Fortunately, this stately specimen has been preserved. Restorer Paul van Laere restored it to its full glory. The pump had been badly damaged for some time. Iron rods had held the various pieces in place since the 1970s. The broken plates were replaced with new ones, which have been worked in the same way as the old ones. The whole thing therefore looks just as it did in 1715. The pump has not only been visually restored, but has also regained its former function. Move the metal lever on the side and voilà: delicious drinking water.