Copper thieves have been blamed for stripping away part of a roadside sculpture in Flevoland with an ill-fated history.

The lower half of De Tong (“the tongue”), a nine-metre high oval disc beside the A6, was apparently removed over the weekend, Omroep Flevoland reported.

A pack of tie wraps and pieces of steel broken off the frame were found below the sculpture, suggesting the copper had been cut away.

The artwork has been restored three times since it was first erected in 1993. It was also the subject of political controversy around its original name, “The Tongue of Lucifer”.

Artist Ruud de Wint said the artwork was intended to symbolise the devil playfully sticking his tongue out towards God, but the local branch of the orthodox protestant party SGP said the name was blasphemous. In 2021, after the latest restoration, its name was shortened to “The Tongue”.

The sculpture was taken away for restoration in 1995 after being attacked and dented by vandals. In 2006 copper strips that had come loose a few years earlier were cut away from its underside.

On that occasion the artwork was taken to Amsterdam for repairs that took four years and cost €195,000. A workman died in 2009 when the sculpture slipped from its harness while it was suspended from a crane.

An extra €100,000 was spent on security for the sculpture when it was replaced the following year, but in 2012 the floodlights were vandalised. Shortly after the lighting was replaced in 2020, the sculpture needed to be restored again after it was blown off balance in a storm.

It was replaced in February last year under its new, shorter name, after a further €200,000 had been spent on restoring the sculpture and strengthening the base.