To mark the twelve-year restoration of the Sint Jan cathedral in Den Bosch, a new statue of an angel carrying a mobile phone was added to the building. The angel joins the many other statues adorning the outside of the mediaeval cathedral.
Member of the churchboard, Pieter Kohnen, explained the modern frivolity by explaining that "angels help us to communicate with the invisible world. Specifically, in these days, in which so many modern communication means are available, angels want to remain reachable."
The statue was created by sculptor Ton Mooy, who was responsible to for the renewal of the statues on the cathedral. The last in the series needed a modern twist, he decided. The phone has just one button, the artist says – it directly dials God. As well as holding a mobile phone, the carved stone angel is also wearing jeans. Peculiar image of the week.
Trinidad
Thanks a lot for sharing this information. Actually I was writing a poem about cell phones and your post inspired me a lot. This is a very interesting web so I will return. (I have posted my comment again as there was a misspelling in the first one, sorry. I would be grateful if you could delete the wrong one. Thanks)
Posted on
Arnoud van den Heuvel
Keep an eye open for the fat-pizza-eating-TV-zapping-on-a-couch angel.
Posted on
Jeremy
Ha. I ran across an unintentionally similar statue in France a few years ago. Behold the scroll phone: http://gallery.me.com/smalltransport/100195/DSC_0128-20-1-/web.jpg?ver=12962463930001
Posted on
Koert van Mensvoort
@ Geert: :) Indeed, you would expect angels to have a more sophisticated mobile phone.. Truly advanced technology becomes invisible.
Posted on
Geert Lovink
What should be criticized here is the size of the phone. Such an increadible brick! Looks like a mid nineties Nokia? Or even older? Yuck!
Posted on