The Dutch Fortress Museum | World Heritage the Dutch Waterlines - Naarden

UNESCO World Heritage The Dutch Waterlines tells the story of the strategic use of water in the defence of the Netherlands. The water lines were also called the secret weapon of the Netherlands.

Secret weapon
In a waterline, water is used to stop the enemy. A system of locks, dykes, canals, rivers and pumping stations ensured that entire polders could be flooded. The layer of water was only 40 to 50 centimetres. This was too deep to walk and too shallow to sail. At vulnerable points, forts were built for extra protection. Many of these forts can be visited.

In 2021, UNESCO World Heritage The Stelling van Amsterdam (World Heritage since 1996) will be expanded with the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie to complete the picture of the Waterlinies as one World Heritage Site - the Dutch Waterlines.

The Vestingmuseum was founded in 1955 by Ebbo van Wijngaarden as Vestingmuseum Naarden. During the first years, the exhibition was limited to two casemates and the low flank in between. Due to the poor climatic conditions, the board took the entire exhibited collection home at the end of each season in order to rearrange it and open the museum in the spring. Between the 1970s and the 1990s, all the other buildings and casemates on the bastion were also used by the museum. In 2008, the museum started moving to Bastion Oranje, also within the fortifications of Naarden.

Want to visit other parts of Hollandse Waterlinies? Go to: www.stellingvanamsterdam.nl or https://nieuwehollandsewaterlinie.nl