The core of the approximately 80-hectare island consists of a 12-hectare glacial ridge with a height of 9 meters above sea level (the mountain). The glacial ridge of Urk was formed in the penultimate ice age (Saalien). During the Saalien, glacial ridges were created due to the pressure of the glacial ice, including along the line Urk-Schokland-Vollenhove. Glacial clay is a tough, poorly permeable soil type that protected the island of Urk from the whims of the Zuiderzee. On the mountain stood houses, churches, the lighthouse, and other buildings.
In the Netherlands, Urk has grown into one of the most important fishing places. The fleet is counted among the most modern in Europe. The delivered fish is first sorted and then auctioned at the fish auction. The auctioned fish mostly goes to the more than a hundred fish processing companies in Urk, which primarily work for export.
The fish was dearly paid for. The fisherman's monument depicts a fisherwoman who looks back one last time at the sea, from where her loved one(s) had to come. On 34 marble plates are inscribed 368 names of those who lost their lives at sea.
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Address: Urk
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