Elfsteden monument in Friesland 'It sil heve', Friesland (NL)

Year:	1999
Location:	Friesland
Designer:	Maree Blok en Bas Lugthart
Project type:	art & design
Product:	glazed and transferred tiles on a bridge.

'It sil heve’ are the legendary words that were uttered in 1985 when the 'race of all races' was able to be held once again after a gap of 22 years. The idea for the project is a picture, which from a distance appears to be a row of skaters helping each other and keeping each other out of the wind, a characteristic scene from the Elfstedentocht (a race on skates passing through 11 Frisian towns). Seen close up, the tiles depict thousands of portraits of all the skaters that have ever finished the race. The artistic duo of Maree Blok and Bas Lugthart approached Koninklijke Tichelaar to handle the production process, which involved baking the photos onto the tiles using a screen-printing process. The project was carried out on the Canterlandse bridge, the last bridge the skaters have to pass under in the Elfsteden route before reaching the finish a few kilometres further in Leeuwarden.