Fort Hemeltje, Houten, Netherlands

Fort het Hemeltje was built between 1877-1881 as part of the so-called Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie(The 'New Dutch Water Line') to defend the cities of the western Netherlands from overland attack.

Castles and fortifications in Netherlands

User Reviews

Shania A (2 years ago)
I lived here when I was a child and thought it was a wonderful place to grow up . We had chickens and various fruit trees, feral cats and fish in the moat and my Dad tended a vegetable garden. So idyllic ❣ like homesteaders.

Anne Roest (2 years ago)
Beautiful location. I've lived in Utrecht for some time but never knew about this fort. Would highly recommend going there to get a different view than the city itself.

Faizan Rabbani (2 years ago)
walking path around the fortress.

Roelof Schaap (2 years ago)
Very nice and beautiful place between the highways. You can walk a nice route that takes you past all points of the fort. Search for codes along the way and discover the history of the fort. There are picnic benches, catering and meeting / conference rooms in the main building. Beautiful place and well worth a visit

peter de klein (2 years ago)
Fantastic to walk there. Some courses open and nice view.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Drew de F Fawkes

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Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg

The Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg is situated in a strategic area on a rocky spur overlooking the Upper Rhine Plain, it was used by successive powers from the Middle Ages until the Thirty Years' War when it was abandoned. From 1900 to 1908 it was rebuilt at the behest of the German kaiser Wilhelm II. Today it is a major tourist site, attracting more than 500,000 visitors a year.

The first records of a castle built by the Hohenstaufens date back to 1147. The fortress changed its name to Koenigsburg (royal castle) around 1157. The castle was handed over to the Tiersteins by the Habsburgs following its destruction in 1462. They rebuilt and enlarged it, installing a defensive system designed to withstand artillery fire.

The fortification work accomplished over the 15th century did not suffice to keep the Swedish artillery at bay during the Thirty Years War, and the defences were overrun.

Fort Hemeltje

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