Borstplaat

Borstplaat is a bronze relief embedded in the pavement beside Amsterdam’s Oude Kerk. It shows two breasts and a hand touching one of them. The fictional title means breastplate, while another name, De gestreelde borst, means the caressed breast. Its pavement setting is recorded as wheelchair accessible for visitors.

An anonymous artist known as De Onbekende Beeldhouwer installed the work overnight, without announcement or official permission. City workers found it anchored in a large concrete block when they tried to remove it. Complaints concerned the subject and the noise, because tapping the bronze sent echoes through a basin below. Officials eventually reinstalled it with sound dampening material underneath. The artist contacted the city but kept their identity secret. The piece belongs to Amsterdam’s anonymous public art collection, alongside five other works attributed to the same sculptor. For its unveiling, workers simply brushed sand away to reveal the bronze.