The Hef by Jaco Verheul

About "The Hef"

by Jaco Verheul

About the artwork

De Hef is the popular name of the Koningshavenbrug, a decommissioned railway lift bridge over the Koningshaven in Rotterdam, separating Noordereiland from the Feijenoord district. The bridge formed part of the Breda - Rotterdam railway line The two bridge sections on the banks date from 1878. The middle section was originally a swing bridge. However, this was a considerable obstacle for shipping. Several ships got stuck in the narrow passage; in 1918, the German ship Kandelfels sailed against the pillar. The latter accident prompted the construction of a lift bridge to replace the swing bridge, which was designed by engineer Pieter Joosting and opened on 31 October 1927. This bridge was the first of its kind in Western Europe. In 1928, Joris Ivens made an avant-garde film about De Hef titled The Bridge. This film, among others, made Ivens internationally famous. In 2007, Oscar van Dillen wrote his String Quartet 2 as a piece of music to accompany this silent film. Arij de Boode and Pieter van Oudheusden wrote De Hef, biografie van een spoorbrug (1985, with a foreword by Joris Ivens). On 14 January 1933, Lou Vlasblom plunged from the lift bridge. Two weeks later, Jan Tabbernee jumped from a point six metres higher than Vlasblom's. Tabbernee landed wrong and did not survive the dive. On 14 May 1940, the bridge was badly damaged during the bombing of Rotterdam. To allow train traffic to resume, it was one of the honourable