Standbeeld voor de Halsbandparkiet
Amsterdam, 2026 — glazed ceramic, 7 metres
A seven-metre-high ceramic monument to a small green bird that was once brought to Amsterdam by us humans. Not by choice, but for our entertainment — to live in a cage or aviary.
Some escaped. They survived the cold and rain, multiplied, and made the city their home. Today, the ring-necked parakeet is one of Amsterdam’s most visible residents. Loved by some, disliked by others: too loud, too cheeky, not from here, taking up too much space.
All the more reason to give it a monument.
Standbeeld voor de Halsbandparkiet is an ode to all the strange birds who make Amsterdam the lively, inspiring and unruly city it is. To newcomers, outsiders, eccentrics and birds of paradise. For centuries, people have come to Amsterdam to become who they need to be — or because elsewhere they would remain caged.
The monument celebrates the tolerance, diversity and bravado of Amsterdam. Not with a solemn hero on a pedestal, but with a seven-metre-high tropical bird that was never supposed to be here — and is now impossible to imagine Amsterdam without.
📸 Tommy Smits