MH17 Memorial, Vijfhuizen

openas of 2026-10-012017World · Ukrainian tracesNetherlands

Photo: Hay Kranen · CC BY 4.0 · source

298 trees for the number of those killed on flight MH17, shot down over Ukraine on 17 July 2014.

The memorial was laid out in the park at Vijfhuizen in memory of the 298 people who died on 17 July 2014, when flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine. A separate tree with a name plaque was planted for each of the dead, and together they form a "ribbon" in the landscape that repeats the black ribbon of mourning. Ten species were chosen: lime trees were planted for the fifteen crew members, and people who flew as one group were marked with trees of the same species. The ribbon is surrounded by a wreath of sunflowers that comes into bloom around 17 July — a direct reference to the fields in Ukraine where the wreckage fell. The memorial sign in the "eye" of the ribbon was created by Ronald A. Westerhuis: a wall of Corten steel and a mirrored disc with all the names engraved in a spiral. The official opening took place on 17 July 2017.