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

Fort Pannerden - located on a tongue of land at the junction of the river Waal and the Pannerdensch Kanaal (PiP3) - was constructed between 1869 and 1871 as part of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie (New Dutch Waterline). Originally the fort was built completely out of brick and mortar, with just one main battery guarding the rivers. It was upgraded significantly during 1885-1895. Fort Pannerden is the most easterly of the 50 sturdy forts of the New Dutch Waterline, a series of water-based defences. Soldiers were able to see from afar whether enemies were approaching on the river Rijn. They had to secure the flow of Rijn-water towards the waterline. Fort Pannerden is therefore also known as “the tap on the New Dutch Waterline”. Since July 2021 the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The fort had strategic significance because it guarded the Pannerdensch Kanaal/Rijn, which supplies the water for the inundations of the New Dutch Waterline and could potentially be used as a route towards the main line of defence. In World War I the Netherlands remained neutral, although the fort was manned as part of a general mobilisation. During the German invasion of the Netherlands in of World War II (May 1940), the fort was first bypassed. One day later it was surrounded and cut off from the rest of the Dutch army, the commander of the fort surrendered under threat of artillery bombardment and air attack. After the war the fort became a quarry for building materials and a dump for ammunition. The fort itself was already decommissioned in 1959 and abandoned. Fort Pannerden then stood empty until 2000 when it was taken over by squatters. Years of court cases and evictions followed, finally resulting in an agreement; the squatters were appointed as temporary caretakers of the fort, but they could not live there anymore. In 2008 the former squatters left the fort voluntarily and a restoration of Fort Pannerdan started, which ended in 2011 with the fort being opened to the public. Nowadays Fort Pannerden - also housing a museum (PiP4) - can be visited for a fee. The fort is located nearby the medieval Kasteel Doornenburg .

Kasteel De Kinkelenburg was known during the late Middle Ages as Hof te Bemmel . The house was first mentioned in the year of 1403, when Johan van Ambe inhabited the moated house in Bemmel. These counts used the castle as a hunting lodge, so it probably never served as a real castle. The castle probably consisted then of a square stone tower-house. The attached gate tower may date from the same period. Somewhere in the 16th and 17th centuries, the towers were connected by a building. In 1765 the house was expanded with a wing. It is unknown where the name Kinkelenburg comes from. The castle was converted into a villa by private individuals in the 19th century and lost its medieval character. The last private owners and residents were members of the Homan van der Heide family, who sold the castle in 1948 to the municipality of Bemmel. During World War II, the municipality commandeered De Kinkelenburg as emergency accommodation and was used as an emergency hospital. The largest part of the building was demolished and rebuilt according to the model of old drawings. It was then put into use as the town hall of the municipality. Today De Kinkelenburg is a wedding and meeting location of the municipality of Lingewaard. Since 1971 the castle is a national state monument.