FORT NORTH OF PURMEREND

Fort Benoorden Purmerend is part of the Defence Line of Amsterdam, a defensive line located 15 to 20 kilometres around the centre of Amsterdam. This line of defence around the Dutch capital was the last refuge for the army and the government in wartime. The scaffolding was built between 1880 and 1914. The defence line is 135 kilometres long and consists of 46 forts and batteries, numerous dikes, dams and locks.

The terrain around Amsterdam still consists of polders and peat ponds and is usually very wet and low-lying. In the event of an enemy attack, the polders would be inundated with a layer of water of 20 to 30 centimetres by allowing a large amount of water to flow in. As a result, the attacker was forced to attack over the narrow country roads and polder dikes, the accesses, which were present at the time. The defender had to put in a lot of effort to build defenses on these accesses. An access (technical term from fortification) is an entrance that leads through an area that can be flooded for defense.
In 1996, the Defence Line of Amsterdam was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

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