Lonely tree on the heath near Radio Kootwijk by Jeroen de Jongh Photography

About "Lonely tree on the heath near Radio Kootwijk"

by Jeroen de Jongh Photography

About the artwork

Radio Kootwijk (Lowlands Saxon: Radio Kootwiek) is a hamlet in the municipality of Apeldoorn, in the Dutch province of Gelderland, with just over 100 inhabitants.

Originally it was called Kootwijk Radio, to distinguish it from the original village Kootwijk, situated about four kilometers west; Radio Kootwijk is the name of the former broadcasting station around which the village was built. It is situated in the middle of an area of woods, shifting sands and heather on the Veluwe, east of the Kootwijkerzand and the aforementioned village of Kootwijk, which belongs to the municipality of Barneveld. Until August 1966 half of Radio Kootwijk belonged to Barneveld and the other half to Apeldoorn.

In the heart of the Veluwe, the trees of the Netherlands' largest forest area suddenly make way for a large open area of heathland and sand drifts: the Kootwijkerzand. With a surface area of 700 hectares, the Kootwijkerzand is the largest active sand drift in Western Europe. In the middle is the monumental radio station Radio Kootwijk.

Rolling hills as far as the eye can see, traces of red deer and wild boar and birds of prey hovering above the open plain. The emptiness of sand and heathland made the Kootwijkerzand eminently suitable for Radio Kootwijk: the broadcasting station built in the 1920s for radio-telegraphic contact with the former Dutch East Indies. The imposing building, halfway between a temple and a sphinx, contrasts beautifully with the empty, wild surroundings.