A piece of heritage returns to Wereldwijzer (world wiser/pointer) primary school in Woensel-Zuid. This is a statue of Saint Peter Canisius. Former student Cees van Rooij (79) came up with the plan to have it restored.
De Wereldwijzer primary school was previously Catholic Petrus Canisiusschool. During his primary school years, Van Rooij had a view of the almost hundred-year-old statue every day. When he returned for a reunion in 2010, he noticed the sculpture was gone.
Disappeared
In the 1970s, the statue was removed from the school’s niche because the school no longer had a religious foundation. Former director Stoop was afraid it would end up in the garbage dump and took it to his garden. When Stoop reached old age, the statue was returned to the school, where it was placed next to the boardroom. Because it had been outside for so long, it was in bad shape. “I saw the damaged statue in the school at the time, but I think heritage is important”, Van Rooij says. So he rounded up a few old classmates and came up with a plan to have it restored at his own expense.
Restoration
To Van Rooij’s delight, this plan was adopted by SKPO (Stichting Katholiek Primair Onderwijs, foundation for catholic primary education), the board of the current school. They had the statue restored by ‘Klooster en Beeld’ (monastery and statue/view) from Bergeijk, so it is in good condition again. On Tuesday it will be placed back in the original niche of the primary school building.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
