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 (4 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 (4 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 (4 years ago)
walking path around the fortress.

Roelof Schaap (4 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 (4 years ago)
Fantastic to walk there. Some courses open and nice view.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright discopalace

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Sigmaringen Castle

Sigmaringen Castle was first mentioned in the year 1077 in the chronicles of Petershausen monastery. The oldest parts of the castle are concealed beneath the alterations made during the 17th and the 19th centuries. The secret of the earliest settlement built on this defendable rock will never be fully revealed: large-scale excavation work would be necessary, which the extensive land development renders impossible. Judging from the many Roman remains unearthed in the area around Sigmaringen, the 12th century keep known as the 'Roman Tower' could be traced back to a Roman predecessor.

The castle remains that have been preserved (gate, great hall and keep) date back to the Staufer period around 1200. The castle remains were integrated into subsequent buildings. The foundations of the castle buildings are to a large extent identical to the surrounding castle wall.

These remains give us a good idea of how the castle might have looked during the 12th century.

Fort Hemeltje

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