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About the Cathedral
of Thorns

An extraordinary journey of vision, community, and creativity, brought together thorn by thorn. Award-winning artist Herman Van Bergen creates remarkable works of art with ‘sumpiñas’, the thorns of the Acacia Tortuosa bush. This desert shrub, abundant on his home island of Curaçao in the Dutch Caribbean, symbolizes resilience.

A Tribute to
Earth’s Strenght

Van Bergen’s visionary work reflects nature’s struggle to survive after European colonization nearly erased the native Wayaká trees. Today, the thorns symbolize resistance to pollution and celebrate both natural resilience and human creativity.

The Cathedral of Thorns is an illuminated labyrinth shaped like an Arawak figure, merging Curaçao’s colonial history with global spiritual symbols. It features contemporary art in niches, serves as a performance space, and invites visitors on a journey of history and hope. The project was honored by the Coda Video Awards (2015) and featured by National Geographic in 2016.

Thorn’s
Become Art

His first thorn sculpture, inspired by the Greek god Atlas, stood between paintings of religious power. Seeing light shine through the thorns as a symbol of human enlightenment, Van Bergen began adding lights to his work. This led to Thorns, the Light Within in 2002—an installation with glowing thorn lamps casting surreal shadows. A year later, his work was nominated for the Curaçao Innovation Award.

Royal Gift

Getting more familiarized with the material, in 2015 Van Bergen sculpted heads, torsos and objects, such as ‘Harvest’ and ‘Useless Islands’. Most famous is his ‘Nature’s Kiss’, a gift to the Dutch King and Queen on behalf of Curaçao in 2013. In addition to exhibitions in Curaçao, his work was selected and exhibited at international events like Art Prize 2012 in Michigan and Tropical Kingdom 2013/14 in the Netherlands. Van Bergen is also regularly invited to talk about his work, including a presentation at TEDxCuraçao (2011) and a lecture at the University of Louisville, Kentucky (2015).

A Magical
Experience

The Cathedral of Thorns is an essential part of the Bloemhof Experience, an immersive journey through Curaçao’s art, nature, and heritage. Located on the historic Landhuis Bloemhof estate, the tour includes a walk through the native Mondi garden, a visit to the preserved studio of artist May Henriquez, and a look at current exhibitions in the Landhuis. Visitors also explore outdoor sculptures and the studio of Hortence Brouwn before reaching the monumental Cathedral of Thorns, where nature, history, and creativity come together in a powerful artistic statement.

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An Artistic Journey

The monumental artistic concept ‘Cathedral of Thorns’ preserves and tells a story that the world must not forget. It will help all who visit it, to reflect on lessons from the past – the ecological and humanitarian disaster caused by the exploration of the ‘New World’. It celebrates the power of nature and the new direction in which mankind can go when art is part of the thought process. It is also a job skill training program, giving unemployed, uneducated youth a well-deserved second chance. The Cathedral of Thorns unites all themes of previous thorn-art sculptures into one expansive project: a building honoring Mother Nature and the Free Spirit that achieves change through creativity.

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