Mander Circles

The Mander Circles, also known as Jannink's Circles or Jannink's Bra, together form the largest landscape art project in the Netherlands. They are located on the Northern Manderheide near the Twente village of Mander. The artwork consists of two circular areas, which were originally reclaimed as agricultural fields on the wild sandy soils.
The circular fields were laid out in the thirties of the 20th century on the heath of the former Marke Mander by order of Gerhard Jannink, textile manufacturer and large landowner from Enschede. He had seen in North America that round fields had advantages over rectangular ones. The fields could be worked from the middle in a spiral corridor so that the machines did not have to turn. Rye, oats and potatoes were grown alternately. After 1975, maize became the most important crop. When that too no longer paid off, Jannink's land was sold in 1991 to Landschap Overijssel, which now manages it as heathland so that the circles remain open in the landscape.

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