# Rattenvanger van Hamelen

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Canonical page: https://mytuur.com/en/city/utrecht/spot/rattenvanger-van-hamelen/

Content updated: 2026-06-22

Rattenvanger van Hamelen stands outdoors in Utrecht, where a stylized flute-playing figure rises from a rectangular natural-stone pedestal. A horizontal relief near the figure’s legs shows several rats. Paulus Reinhard made the sculpture in 1964, choosing the Pied Piper for an early work focused on form. Strictly divided, flat surfaces give the figure an almost primitive, abstract appearance.

The sculpture first stood beside the ULO school on Nijenrodelaan in Zuilen, Utrecht North, becoming familiar in student class photographs. After the school was demolished in the 1980s, the city stored it at Fort de Bilt. A neighbourhood campaign led by Tine Chambone Mooij brought it to Willem Arntszkade in 2003, with Reinhard’s approval. It now forms part of a local sculpture route extending along Willem Arntszkade and Zaagmolenkade.

The rats connect the stone image to the German folklore of Hamelin’s flute-playing rat catcher. Its orientation has prompted a playful question: do the rats seem to leave the city, or enter it?

- City: [Utrecht](https://mytuur.com/en/city/utrecht/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_RattenvangervanHamelen_6831de8cf44f54dc868d0acc_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rattenvanger_van_Hamelen_Paulus_Reinhard_Utrecht.JPG)

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