"At home I have a large collection of atlases. When I started working at VU Amsterdam, I was education coordinator at the science faculty in the maths and physics building. Nowadays, I am course coordinator and programmer at Cultuurcentrum Griffioen and I am at Uilenstede. The Griffioen is going to move to the NU-building. So soon I will have made a tour of the campus."
As if you could walk through it
"Such a scale model gives a nice overview. It is as if you can walk through the campus. I am curious who made this model, when and for what purpose. I can really see how someone has been working on it with sandpaper and water colours. Meanwhile, the campus has changed quite a lot. Here, the design is still 'state of the art', austere. I can imagine that people fell for that at the time. Over the years, the campus has become rather cluttered. In this model, there is no extension to the main building yet and the Hortus seems larger than it is now. The sweeping lines of the Hortus contrast nicely with the rest of the austere campus. It's nice that you can see the star dome on the W&N building."
Made in the late sixties
The model was made at the end of the sixties. This can be seen in the narrow shape of the Power Station, the absence of the Transitorium, and the presence of the (not-so-temporary) Provisorium I, which was built in 1966 and only demolished in 2002. Provisorium II (1975-1990) and III (1968-1990) are still missing. It is not known who made the model. The chimney of the power station has unfortunately been demolished.
A labyrinth through the VU heritage repositories
Kirsten chose the model after some wandering through the heritage repositories. "I love archives and museums. I have worked in Museum TwentseWelle and Catharijneconvent." The tour starts at the portraits of professors. From 1880 to 1950, a portrait was painted of each professor who retired.
Love for costumes
Kisten is also interested in the gowns. "I have a love of costumes and fabrics and once started a course in Theatre Costume Design," he says. Next to the typically austere, black VU gowns 'after Leiden's example', the ministerial costume of Abraham Kuyper with the corresponding stitch is hanging. Kirsten finally chooses the model of the VU campus that is hidden on top of a cupboard. There are also others, on a different scale, of the Campus and the VUMC, and of Uilenstede. Unfortunately, not all of them fit in the UB Heritage display case...
