The unveiling by Alderman H. van Santen of the memorial for the Court of Arkel, which was supposed to take place on Thursday 11 December, has been postponed. A building permit is required for placing the memorial because placing it must be considered as 'building' in the protected cityscape. Outside the protected cityscape, memorials and street furniture may often be placed without a permit. However, this is not permitted within the protected cityscape. In the enthusiasm of the initiators, this was unfortunately overlooked and that is why the municipality of Gorinchem decided to postpone the unveiling.
In the meantime, the monument will remain in place pending completion of the procedure.
This was chosen because the initiative is very much appreciated and because in this way the new memorial can already be admired. If no permit is granted because it encounters insurmountable objections, the monument will still be removed. As soon as the procedure for the application for the building permit has been completed positively, it will be announced when the monument will be unveiled.
The monument is a memorial that refers to the Hof van Arkel. For the construction of the V&D in the city center, archaeological research was carried out at this location. In addition to all kinds of old utensils, a historical column was also excavated. This column was attributed by the archaeologists to the Hof van Arkel, which used to stand at this location. After the excavation, the idea arose to make a monument of this archaeological find.
December 16, 2003
The City of Gorinchem