Fort Bourtange

Fort Bourtange stands near the village of the same name in the northeastern Netherlands, built in 1593 on the orders of William of Orange during the Eighty Years' War to control one of the few solid land routes across the surrounding marshes toward the city of Groningen. Its plan takes the form of a five-pointed star, a defensive geometry designed so that every approach to the walls could be covered by flanking cannon fire from adjoining bastions, a style typical of Dutch and Italian fortification engineering of the period. The fortress remained in military use into the nineteenth century before falling into disrepair, and it was extensively restored between the 1960s and 1980s to its appearance in 1742, complete with earthen ramparts, moats and reconstructed timber buildings. It now operates as an open-air museum illustrating both the fortress's military architecture and the daily life of its historical garrison and village.