The Kamper steur

Kampen has a beautiful cityscape, but in the summer this is enriched with a very special monument: the Kamper steur. A large floating monument of a sturgeon with a bell around his neck. The monument is based on the story of one of the Kamper uien (onions). These are stories where the mockery is driven with the stupidity of Kampenaren. The Kamper ui(t)dagen, the annual festival, owes its name to this. The story of the sturgeon is well-known around Kampen.

The story of the sturgeon with the bell

In the old days, when Kampen still had city walls, a bishop was going to visit Kampen. The people from Kampen were honored and wanted to serve him a feast during his visit. The fishermen found a big sturgeon to be the perfect meal. The problem was that the bishop got sick and would come a week later. The people from Kampen knew that the sturgeon would spoil if it was taken on dry land. They came up with a plan: they fixed a bell around the neck of the sturgeon and threw back the sturgeon in the IJssel. Through the bell they would find the sturgeon again when the bishop was there. Once the bishop was there, they listened for days on the IJssel to see if they would hear a bell. The bishop got another meal and they never found the sturgeon again.

About the Sturgeon in Kampen

The sturgeon monument, also known as Kamper steur, is located every year for several weeks next to the city bridge in the IJssel. The Kamper steur is about the story of hundreds of years ago, when Kampen put a bell around the neck of the sturgeon in order to find it back. There is also a statue of a boy with a sturgeon on the quay of Kampen. This can be seen throughout the year.