The Nile

Click to enlarge

Date:
1st century AD

Type:
Figure group

Materials:
Bronze, granite

Measurements:

Betegnelse:
On the front of the granite plinth the carved inscription "NILEN"

Owner:
Copenhagen Municipality

Donated by:
The Albertina Foundation

Address:
Søtorvet, in the gardens south of Dronning Louises Bro

Recommended litterature:
Ellinor Wesche: Friluftskunsten i København, København 1932, 51. Monumenter Mindesmærker og Statuer i København Frederiksberg og Gjentofte, København 1944, 27. Legatet 'Albertina'. I anledning af legatets 80 aars dag den 18. november 1959, København 1959, 7-8, 16. Bent Zinglersen: Københavnske monumenter og mindesmærker, København 1974, 58. Bent Zinglersen: Københavnske monumenter og mindesmærker, København 1974, 195. Erik Wassard i: København før og nu – og aldrig. En billedkavalkade om København inden for voldene og søerne, red. Bo Bramsen, Bind 10: Nørrevold, Østervold og Kastellet, København 1990, p. 173, 178-79. Jens Peter Munk: Bronze & granit. Monumenter i Københavns Kommune, København 2005, 160, 174-75

We have more litterature about this monument - please contact us

The enormous god with the beard of a wild man lies on its plinth and is being crawled all over by a group of small naked bronze children. They symbolise 16 different stages in the Nile floods (32 feet difference between the highest and lowest water levels). The horn of plenty symbolises the highest extent of flooding, which creates great wealth for the country.
Motifs on the sides of the bronze base describe life by the Nile, with plants, water and dykes, hippopotami, a crocodile, an ichneumon, horses and storks, fishing figures and grazing cattle.

The bronze cast was made after a Roman marble statue in the Musei Vaticani, Rome. the original was discovered in 1513 near S. Maria sopra Minerva, Rome, and restored by Antonio Canova during the 19th century.