Vestingmuseum

The Vestingmuseum, or Nederlands Vestingmuseum, is the Dutch museum of fortress history, and it is located in Naarden, the best-preserved fortified town in the country. The museum is housed in the Bastion Turfpoort, part of the seventeenth-century star-shaped defences, and its setting inside the walls is the main attraction. It explains how fortresses worked and why they were built, and it lets visitors explore parts of the real fortifications.

Naarden's fortifications are famous. After the town was devastated by Spanish troops in 1572, it was refortified in the following century according to the principles of the new military engineering, with a ring of bastions, ravelins and moats in a geometrical pattern. The principle was that angular bastions allowed defenders to cover every section of the wall with crossfire, so that attackers could be hit from the side as they approached, and earth ramparts absorbed the impact of cannon balls. The final system, completed in the later seventeenth century, was part of the defence of Amsterdam, and it was further strengthened as part of the Dutch Water Line, the chain of fortifications and flooded land that protected the core of the country.

The museum explores this history through weapons, uniforms, models, maps and film. Visitors can enter casemates, vaulted chambers within the ramparts where soldiers lived and guns were kept, and the listening tunnels, narrow passages that ran beneath the outworks so that defenders could detect enemy mining. A fortress gun stands on the bastion above, and from the ramparts there are views over the moat and the town. Exhibits highlight leading figures in the story of Dutch warfare, such as William III, who commanded the defence of the Republic in the crisis year of 1672, and the Napoleonic period, when the town was besieged in 1813.

The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday, with closing on Mondays, and the visit takes about an hour or two. Parts of the building are in cellars and passages, which can be cool and uneven, so wear sensible shoes. The ramparts and moat around the town are free to walk, and there is an excellent walk along the earthworks.

Naarden also offers a town hall with a stepped gable, a church with a famous painted vault, the Comenius Museum and a pleasant main street. The museum suits military history fans, families and anyone who enjoys architecture. Combine it with a walk around the star-shaped fortifications.