BOURTANGE FORTRESS

Around the 16th century, the area around Bourtange consisted of a large swamp. In the marshland there was a sand ridge (tange), which was used by the population as a path. In 1580, prince William of Orange ordered the construction of a fortress on this tange on the border with Germany, this was the beginning of Fortress Bourtange.
The commission for the construction of the fortress has everything to do with the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648). The Spaniards used the tange to supply the city of Groningen, which they had already conquered. Due to the construction of a fortress, the access road (and supplies) of the Spaniards was blocked.
In the mid-19th century, the fortress was dissolved and Bourtange changed from fortress to agricultural village. In the end, little remained of the once important fortress of Bourtange. In the sixties of the last century, the municipality decided to rebuild the fortress in 1742. Now, many years later, one finds fortress Bourtange as it looked in its heyday in 1742.

Biker