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On the Abbey Square in Middelburg, Zeeland, The Netherlands, lays a seventeenth century naval cannon. It's accompanied by a sculpture of two craftsmen. The Zeeland coat of arms can be seen on this cannon. Above this coat of arms the inscription 'Middelburg' can be read.
The artwork (craftsmen sculpture and cannon) was made by the sculptor Sjuul Joosen. His design isn't a tribute to the sea, but emphasizes the craft of casting the weaponry.
The naval cannon was made in the seventeenth century by Johannes Burgerhuys (the Burgerhuys bell and gun-founding family from Middelburg was renowned for its work from the late sixteenth to the late seventeenth century). The cannon was cast in a current room of the abbey complex, which was still the workshop of Burgerhuys in the seventeenth century.
The cannon was fished off the coast of the Zeeland peninsula Walcheren. It may have been on board of a wrecked Zeeland Admiralty ship (from 1584 until 1795 Zeeland had its own Admiralty).
The Zeeland Museum (situated at the Abbey Square) has received the cannon, but found the Abbey Square to be a more logical place for the historic gun, as the more than 2,500 kg (5,511 lb) weighing cannon can't be placed anywhere in the museum.