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In 1572, during the Eighty Year War with the Spaniards, Sea Beggars (Calvinist Dutch nobles) captured Brielle. After this work began on replacing the Medieval town walls with a modern fortress. This process of modernisation and replacement continued until 1713. The fortress ring has nine bastions and five ravelins and was designed by the fortress builders Willem Paen and Menno van Coehoorn. Since 1713 there have been few changes to the fortress, so the defences are some of the most important fortifications remaining in the Netherlands. It is possible to walk all the way around the walls to view them. Besides the walls there are also various buildings in the town centre which once had a military function, such as the Arsenaal, the Infirmerie and the Hoofdwacht (main guardhouse).
References:The Jan Hus Memorial stands at one end of Old Town Square. The huge monument depicts victorious Hussite warriors and Protestants who were forced into exile 200 years after Hus, and a young mother who symbolises national rebirth. The monument was so large that the sculptor designed and built his own villa and studio where the work could be carried out. It was unveiled in 1915 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Jan Hus' martyrdom. The memorial was designed by Ladislav Šaloun and paid for solely by public donations.
Born in 1369, Hus became an influential religious thinker, philosopher, and reformer in Prague. He was a key predecessor to the Protestant movement of the sixteenth century. In his works he criticized religious moral decay of the Catholic Church. Accordingly, the Czech patriot Hus believed that mass should be given in the vernacular, or local language, rather than in Latin. He was inspired by the teachings of John Wycliffe.