Nederland - Fort bij Nigtevecht

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.