Andre's sculpture 2024

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André’s sculpture 2024 Where did it go? We lost track in 2015.

On May 31st 2015, L1mbourgeois broadcast a segment about the Taratynov-family. The family has bought the abandoned empty castle “Strijthagen” in Landgraaf, another Limburg town near Heerlen (37 minutes by train from Maastricht railway station, departure is twice an hour). The family restored the castle and turned it into an art gallery. The interview with Alexander Taratynov is in English. We just noticed that the L1 video on our “old” website did not work anymore. Ruud managed to find the video (spoken half Dutch, half English) and reposted it here. We don’t know if it is still up-to-date for 2024.

André’s sculpture was created in 2009 by the Russian artist Alexander Taratynov, who lived in Maastricht. He also created d’Artagnan’s sculpture, which is in the Maastricht Aldenhof Park. What do we know about this artist? L1 broadcasted an interview in 2015.

I found an interesting article on our own webside, dated 2014. Click HERE.

Here is a small summary of the history of André's statue. Details: 240 kilos of bronze. Asking price was € 65,000.-- Created in 2009 by the Russian sculptor Alexander Taratynov

Created in 2009

First seen in 2010 in Grand Theater Café “Bonbonniere”. (Street: Achter de Comedie)

2011: In de garden of Hotel / Restaurant St. Gerlach, in Geulhem/Houthem.

2012: Oh goodness…. What has happened here? (At Bonbonniere, Grand Theater Café). We feared the entire statue had been melted down for the price of the bronze.

2013: To our relief we saw a newspaper article that the statue had been temporarily exhibited in an art gallery in the Nieuwstraat, during the TEFAF ART FAIR days.

2014: The sculpture was purchased by Leon Maes and housed in the hall of the Design Townhouse Hotel, accessable to fans. 2015: Message from Hotel: André’s sculpture was moved from the Hotel to a newly to build shopping passage. (Wycker Bazaar).

Here starts the follow-up story. Ruud and Ineke visit Maastricht every year and keep an eye on the progress of the Wycker Bazaar. That did not go too well, due to problems with the local residents. During 2016, 2017, 2018, nothing happened.

This picture says: Opening 2016.

July 2019: It just so happened that Ruud, Ineke, Linda and Richard Oswick were walking through the Rechtstraat and at that moment the door was open! Of course we went in to take a look. To our great delight the statue of André was there, right around the corner! We were so happy. Of course we took pictures.

Recently (June, 6, 2024) RTV Maastricht broadcasted a video about the future plans for this location. Finally, after a year, the judge has now decided that the modifications of 6 to 7 restaurants in these buildings is permitted. We wish them much success and we hope that André’s sculpture will soon be seen by the public again in 2025.

André is still stored in the empty buildings, waiting for the moment when the public can see him again.

Video RTV Maastricht, duration 3 minutes. Translation/subtitles: Ineke, John, Ruud.

The Maastricht district of “Wyck” is located between the Maastricht train station and the old St. Servaes Bridge.

The latest news from 2015 was that the sculpture had been purchased in 2014 by Leon Maes, of the Maes Real Estate. This company intended to build a new shopping area in the Maastricht district of “Wyck”, between the Rechtstraat and the Wycker Grachtstraat. That shopping area would be called “The Wycker Bazaar”, with small shops such as a bakery, a greengrocer, a florist and a bistro which provides local produce. The project scheduled to be finished in the beginning of 2016 and André’s sculpture would then find a permanent place there. But local residents feared too much noise pollution during the late evenings from the catering establishments and the plans were halted. Recently, another report appeared in the media that construction will continue after the summer of 2024. According to the forecast, the small shopping arcade should be opened in 2025.

In July 2024 we went to the Wycker Grachtstraat to see whether there is any progress in the construction of a food court, now that the judge has given permission for it. The door stood open and we walked into the courtyard. The buildings are still empty. When we peeked inside, we saw that André's statue is still there in storage, waiting for better times!