Charles the Fifth (Karel de Vijfde)

About this artwork.

In the northern quarter, next to the Provincial Building, is the porter’s house, also known as Huis Cardinaal (The Cardinal’s House). The facade of this house was built from the stones of the 1559, old cardinal's house. But this house stood in the Oude Kijk in ‘t Jatstraat and was demolished in 1893. After the demolition, the stones were kept. Interestingly enough, The Cardinal's House was never actually inhabited by a Cardinal, merely by a man named Mr Cardinaal; and a stockbroker too boot – quite far removed from a religious personage, some might say! 

In 1927, instigated by J.A. Feith (State Archivist), Huis Cardinaal was rebuilt. At the top of the facade, on a pediment, there is a replica of a 16th-century statue of Charles the Fifth, with the words ‘CAROLVS QVINTVS / ROMANORVM IMPE / RATOR SEMPER AVGVS / TVS’ directly below it.  In the facade, there are three medallion portraits with the texts ‘KOENI[N]CK DAVIDS / ANNO DNI / 1559’, ‘CAROLVS / MAGNVS’ and ‘ALLIXCA[N]D[E]R / MAGNVS’; so these are images of King David, Charlemagne and Alexander the Great, respectively. The year 1559 is also engraved into the columns on the ground floor.

Facts & Figures.

• Design
  maker onbekend

• District
  Centrum

• Year of creation
  2011

• Art type
  Monument, Art in / on a building