De Mannen van Basalt
Duitsland, 2025
 
Giclée print on Hahnemühle FineArt Pearl paper.
Size 30x23 cm without white border.
 
The story behind this photo is that this spring I was working on a project about stone masons. The men who laid and maintained the basalt on our dikes. They're a dying breed; everything is automated. Little to no new basalt is used for our dikes. At most, it's used for maintenance in places where it serves an aesthetic purpose. Stone masonry was a profession often passed down from father to son. They primarily worked in shifts on the dikes, often consisting of family members. In the 19th century, stone masons primarily worked on the major rivers in the south of the country. Many stone masons lived mainly in the area between Brabant, Zeeland, and South Holland: Sliedrecht, Hardinxveld, Giessendam—that area. When Ir. Lely realized his plans, there was plenty of money to be made in North Holland, which led to a small migration. Initially, workers cycled from Brabant to work around Den Oever on Mondays. They spent the entire week sleeping in barracks and huts located near their work. Later, they moved there, taking their wives and children with them. Den Oever was the village where people either became a stone setter or went into fishing.

The photo was taken in Germany, where much of the Dutch basalt comes from. In some places, it is still mined in quarries in central Germany. In Altenkirchen, near Remagen, a small mountain of basalt rises from the rock. Rumor has it that in earlier times, the Druids worshipped the sun there.

Marcel Molle completed his photography studies at the MTS (Medium Technical School for Photography) in The Hague in 1988. He has been active as a photojournalist since 1990. Initially, until around 2005, he worked for de Volkskrant, and since 2021 for the Noordhollands Dagblad, where he has his own photo column twice a week. In 2000, he received the Silver Camera for a series on football riots in Rotterdam and was named Photojournalist of the Year in 1999.
 
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