Defense Line of Amsterdam

This defense line was built between 1883 and 1920 to guard the capital Amsterdam. It is the only example of a fortification based on the control of water. The protection of the centre of the country was ensured by a network of 45 forts and their artillery acting in concert with temporary flooding from polders and an intricate system of canals and locks.

Below you find the full list of fortresses and batteries that make up this worldheritage. Only some of them are (infrequently) open to visitors.

Name of site (Municipality)
Fort Near Edam (Edam-Volendam)
Fort Near Kwadijk (never completed) (Zeevang)
Fort north of Purmerend (Beemster)
Fort along Nekkerweg (Beemster)
Fort along Middenweg (Beemster)
Fort along Jisperweg (Beemster)
Fort near Spijkerboor (Beemster)
Fort near Marken-Binnen (Uitgeest)
Fort near Krommeniedijk (Uitgeest)
Fort along de Ham (Zaanstad)
Fort near Veldhuis (Heemskerk)
Fort along the St. Aagtendijk (Beverwijk)
Fort Zuidwijkermeer (Beverwijk)
Fort near Velsen (Beverwijk)
Coastal Fort near IJmuiden (Velsen)
Fort north of Spaardam (Velsen)
Fort south of Spaardam (Haarlem)
Fort near Penningsveer (Haarlemmerliede)
Fort near the Liebrug (Haarlemmerliede)
Fort de Liede (Haarlemmerliede)
Fort Bij Heemstede (Haarlemmermeer)
Advanced defense at Vijfhuizen (Haarlemmermeer)
Fort near Vijfhuizen (Haarlemmermeer)
Battery along IJweg (Haarlemmermeer)
Fort near Hoofddorp (Haarlemmermeer)
Battery along Sloterweg (Haarlemmermeer)
Fort near Aalsmeer (Haarlemmermeer)
Fort near Kudelstaart (Aalsmeer)
Fort near de Kwakel (Uithoorn)
Fort along the Drecht (Uithoorn)
Fort near Uithoorn (De Ronde Venen)
Fort near Wavel-Amstel (De Ronde Venen)
Fort in the Waver-Botshol (never completed) (Abcoude)
Fort along De Winkel (never completed) (Abcoude)
Fort near Abcoude (Abcoude)
Fort near Nigtevecht (Abcoude)
Fort near Hinderdam (Weesp)
Fort Uitermeer (Weesp)
Weesp Fortress - Defensive tower on the Ossenmarket (Weesp)
Muiden Fortress (Muiden)
Muiden west battery (Muiden)
Fort Kijkuit ('s-Graveland)
Battery near the IJ before Diemerdam (Diemen)
Fort along the Pampus (Muiden)
Battery near the IJ before Durgerdam (Amsterdam)

Year	Decision	Comments
1996	Inscribed	Reasons for inscription

Visit October 2002

For my visit to the Defense Line I chose Muiden and Pampus, two of the most accessible locations. Muiden is a historical fortress-town to the east of Amsterdam. The whole town is like an open air museum and has a real historical feel to it. The Muiden Castle is also a must.

From Muiden I took the ferry to Pampus. This island became the final part of the Defense Line: it had to guard the entrance to Amsterdam via the IJ-river. Soldiers were trained here between the two World Wars, but never has the island been used in combat. The place was already outdated when its construction had finished.

Nowadays Pampus sees 35.000 visitors a year. Since 1990 it has been privately owned by a foundation that wants to maintain and restore the fortress-island. They haven't been lucky in finding funds though, and so the site is in really bad repair. Not as bad however as when they acquired it twelve years ago, when there were rats everywhere and trees grew out of the buildings.

More photos can be found in the Picture Gallery

Reviews

Ian Cade (England):

The forts ring Amsterdam so if you travel about 15km out from the centre you will be pretty close to one of them.
After a recommendation from Els we headed out to Muiden. There are two forts here as well as a ferry link to a third at Pampus. We first stopped at the Muiden fort near the lock at the centre of town. Having looked at the forts in aerial photos this was the classic shape of the majority of the forts, it is a sort of arrowhead shape surrounded by a moat. We had a look inside but most of the things were closed, there was information leaflets about the other forts along the New Holland Waterline (on the Dutch tentative list).
We then walked out to the West battery (pictured), here you could get a better overview of the fort and its ring of water, it is now used as a meeting place for scouts. It was very hot so we went to the extremely small beach behind the battery and relaxed with the locals, looking out towards the fortress island of Pampus.
Muiden was an exceedingly charming place to visit and the castle is very impressive, we had a lovely time here sitting in the café next to the lock watching the boats move past. It was worth making the short trip out, there are hourly buses to and from Amsterdam Amstelstation and it takes about 30 minutes.
We saw three of the forts at Beemster, the one at Spijkerboor is open to visitors and has explanations about how the forts work, it was closed when we got there though. When you are taking off/landing at Schiphol keep an eye out as a fair few of the sites are located almost literally at the ends of the runways, I managed to see two more like this.
It is quite hard to grasp entirely how these forts work, and as they are so disparate I never really got a full sense of their worth. The engineering is impressive and it is a distinctly Dutch interpretation of defence. As a casual tourist I wouldn’t suggest the sites themselves are really worth trekking out to see but are wide spread so a visit to many places just outside Amsterdam should give you a chance to view at least one of them.

Date posted: July 2006

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