Robert Smithson, Broken Circle / Spiral Hill, 1971 - Drenthe, Netherlands (July, 2024)
Background
Located in a former sand quarry, this piece is really two separate ones, as its name implies. A Broken Circle and a Spiral Hill. The Broken Circle is a semi-circular jetty extending into the quarry lake, constructed from white and yellow sand. At its center lies a prominent glacial boulder, a nod to the region’s origin. Originally the jetty was above the water level, but today it is submerged (or at least it was when we were there). Spiral Hill sits adjacent, a conical mound with a spiraling path ascending to its summit. Intended to be a viewing platform at the top, it is now overgrown with bushes that make it more difficult to ascend, and certainly not very welcoming.
Like a lot of land art, it can make a bit more sense from an aerial view. From this vantage, you can see the spiral and broken circle designs better.
It is Robert Smithson’s only large-scale earthwork outside the United States. Originally commissioned as part of an exhibition, it was later pushed by the artist to be permanent. To let time take it and see how it is reclaimed by nature, just like the quarry it sits in has as well.
Travel
It sits about two hours northeast of Amsterdam or just a few minutes outside of Emmen near the border of Netherlands and Germany. It is only accessible by car, though I suppose if you just happened to be in Emmen, you could probably walk there.
Type in Broken Circle by Robert Smithson to find it on Google Maps. Or try this address to get you to the correct road (Oude Roswinkelerweg, 7814 RT Emmen, Netherlands). There is no dedicated parking, and the nearest road is unpaved, but we just parked nearby one other vehicle with space for a vehicle to pass around us if need be. The road is flat, and not particulary difficult, you wouldn’t need a high clearance or four wheel drive vehicle to get there. You’ll see a gap in the fence with a sign that says something about a danger of drowning in water. It’s well trodden and easy to pass through this thicket of trees.
Through the trees, you’ll appear on the other side about halfway up Spiral Hill. You can start the spiral ascent or walk down to the lake’s edge and Broken Circle. It’s free to visit, but there are no lights or facilities, so probably stick to daylight hours. It isn’t far from Emmen, so you can easily go there for food or restrooms.
Experience
We went at the end of the day (in July), after our Flevoland Land Art road trip. There was one other vehicle parked there. It looked like a family who had gone for a walk around the quarry lake, but otherwise we didn’t see anyone else around. There are a couple houses on the eastern banks, but it looks like you can walk around without crossing any private property. After observing it from a distance, we walked up the hill. It is rather precarious and not very welcoming to anyone to ascend it. Over time, a large thicket of branches has grown over it. The spiraling path is still clear, but due to the overgrowth, it has limited the width of the path to be quite narrow.
It is easy to not hug the hill since the branches are now taking up space, and with your outer foot, it is easy to miss the ground and step through the overgrowth and slip. You can’t really fall far, so I wouldn’t call it dangerous, but you certainly will get some scratches, scrapes, stains, or worse twist your ankle. I’d definitely recommend sturdy shoes, and dark pants, otherwise you’ll end up like us below.
When we were there, there were also a lot of slugs on the walk up. So, if you’re not a fan of those, keep an eye out. The path narrows and the brush gets thicker as you near the top. And the view isn’t particularly spectactular, so whenever you feel comfortable, you can turn around. It isn’t particularly high or rewarding. There were no traces of any other visitors having been up there in awhile.
Ther aren’t many rocks at this quarry, so don’t expect to be able to skip any acros the still lake.
Nearby Emmen is a town though, so make sure you go during regular hours if you want access to things. When we were there on a Monday evening, there were only a handful of restaurants opened. We ate at Pizzeria Sardegna, which was fine for food and the staff was friendly.
We stayed an hour south (because we were headed to Germany the next day and wanted to do less driving the next day) at Landgoed De Holtweijde. This was a beautiful hotel. We had a large spacious room, with a lovely private patio to sit out at dawn with pastries and coffee / tea. Watched the morning fog lift with cows in a nearby field.
A couple hours south is the Red Dot Design Museum in Dortmund, which was an amusing place to check out. An organization that just awards consumer products with good design, they collect a lot of things there in an old mining facility, and it’s a good break from the summer heat. They also insist you touch anything that isn’t behind glass. Mattos got into every tub she could find. There really isn’t much to do in Dortmund other than watch soccer. Essen has even less, but Two Eggs JianBing there is a quality meal. But hey, we went for the Euros, and it was a good time, with an amazing Orange Walk and some really great English lad chants.
Summary
If you happen to be in the area then stop on by and stretch your legs and wande rthrough. But given the current state of it, I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to visit. Plus there isn’t a ton to do nearby. Your road trip time is better spent in Flevoland and their plentiful Land Art.
Sources
https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/broken-circle-spiral-hill
https://brokencircle.nl/home_english