delight
A bronze lamplighter has climbed the same lamppost since 2008
The job was cold and thankless. The statue is having the time of its life.
A bronze man has been climbing the same lamppost in The Hague since 2008, coat tails flung out behind him, and he has never once reached the top. He is De Lantaarnopsteker, The Lamplighter, created by Dutch sculptor Loek Bos and tucked into a cobbled corner called Mallemolen. The figure honors the city's gas-era lamplighters, who spent cold evenings dashing through the streets with torches and ladders to light every lamp by hand, then returned at dawn to put them all out. It was exhausting work. Bos chose not to show the exhaustion. His lamplighter is caught mid-motion, more ballet than chore, frozen in a leap that looks almost effortless. Above his head sits a glass lantern, and on top of the lantern perch two bronze birds, watching him work. They have been judging his technique for over fifteen years. He has not yet noticed.
Originally reported by Atlas Obscura · The Hague, Netherlands
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