Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: fort

The Fort bij Nigtevecht (Fort near Nigtevecht) was completed in 1904. The purpose of the fort (part of the Stelling van Amsterdam *) was to defend the accesses to Amsterdam, formed by the Merwedekanaal (nowadays Amsterdam-Rhine Canal) and the river Vecht. It also protected the sluices between these two waters. A second battery is located in the defence line wall near the fort. The fort has also three mounds, which are the remnants of anti-aircraft artillery positions that were installed in 1927. During the mobilization from 1915 till 1918 about 300 soldiers slept in the fort. In World War II, the Germans used it for storage. The fort - hidden in the green - is located on a quiet location near the Amsterdam-Rijn Kanaal. One can walk around wfor free. A large part of this stronghold was made waterproof and restored by Stichting Herstelling , a Dutch foundation that offers work experience to the jobless. Fort bij Nigtevecht is owned and managed by Natuurmonumenten , a Society for Preservation of Nature Monuments in the Netherlands. * The Stelling van Amsterdam (Defence Line of Amsterdam) is a 135 kilometers long ring of fortifications around Amsterdam. It was built between 1883 and 1920 and consisted of 46 armed forts and batteries, acting in concert with an intricate system of dikes, sluices, canals and inundation polders. It is a major example of a fortification based on the principle of temporary flooding of the land, aimed at protecting the Dutch capital against a possible foreign attack. The Stelling van Amsterdam is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1996.

Fort Werk IV in Bussum is an unique fortress fort within the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie (New Dutch Waterline). This defence line spans 85 kilometres; it starts at Muiden and ends at the Biesbosch and is 3 to 5 kilometres wide. It consists of 45 forts, 6 fortified towns, 2 castles, 85 machine gun casemates, over 700 concrete troop shelters and casemates as well as more than 100 military sluices and water engineering works. The New Dutch Waterline is the largest National Monument in the Netherlands. Naarden - one of the fortified towns - is located in the foothills of a high sandy area and remained a weak spot in the waterline; inundation was not possible in this elevated area. Due to the improvement of the artillery, especially the range of the cannons, the fortress of Naarden had to be defended from a greater distance. It was therefore decided to construct a circle of five fortresses around Naarden in the period from 1868 to 1870. Four of the five mainly earthen works have meanwhile disappeared. The largest fortress, Fort Werk IV , has been preserved. It is built on a rather high point and is a fortress without water. It only has a ‘dry moat’, containing a wall with loopholes as a physical barrier. This crenellated wall is unique in the Netherlands and one of the main reasons why the fort is a National Monument. The Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since July 2021. Fort Werk IV has been restored to its former glory. As of July 2018, the fort is owned by theatre Spant! and nowadays used for business meetings and other events. The fort is freely accessible.

The Stelling van Amsterdam (Defence Line of Amsterdam) is a 135 kilometers long ring of fortifications around Amsterdam. It was built between 1883 and 1920 and consisted of 46 armed forts and batteries, acting in concert with an intricate system of dikes, sluices, canals and inundation polders. It is a major example of a fortification based on the principle of temporary flooding of the land, aimed at protecting the Dutch capital against a possible foreign attack. The Stelling van Amsterdam is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1996. The Fort bij Spijkerboor is the largest of the 46 fortresses, located in the Beemster Polder. The fort was built between 1889 and 1911 to defend the Northern Front. It was one of the most modern and heavily armed forts of the Defence Line of Amsterdam, equipped with an armoured turret with a double-barrel 10.5-centimetre cannon. The fort has two storeys because of the height of the dike to be defended. The fort was mobilized during the World War I. At that time there were 300 soldiers stationed. Although this defensive structure remained in the possession of the Dutch army until 1975, it has been mainly used as a prison throughout the years. Over the course of time, inmates have left their mark in the form of beautiful murals. At the heart of the fortress is a chapel, featuring these decorations. Fort bij Spijkerboor can be visited and is a kind of musuem, showing how the soldiers lived there with sleeping quarters, laundry rooms, an army kitchen with huge boilers and even a private loo for the officers !!