What Is the Amsterdam Criteria?

The Defence Line of Amsterdam is a World Heritage Site located in the Netherlands in Europe. It is built on some flood-prone areas (submerged areas), with 36 forts, two coast forts, two trade forts, three turrets, two permanent coast turrets, and two temporary coast turrets.

Amsterdam defence

World Heritage List --- The Defence Line of Amsterdam

Chinese name: defensive front of Amsterdam

This line of defense extends 135 kilometers around Amsterdam and was built between 1883 and 1920. It is the only fortification built to control the amount of water. Since the 16th century, the Dutch people have developed unique knowledge of hydraulic engineers for defense purposes. To ensure the safety of the national center, 45 forts were built on the dam, equipped with artillery for flood protection, and a canal and sluice system.

The efficient use of land has become the second natural feature of the Netherlands, and almost everything that is no longer used will be removed immediately. From the abandoned farms in Friesland to the closed mines in Limburg, no one seems to have disappeared naturally.

In the artificial landscape here, there are many buildings mixed with concrete and brick structures. They are mainly used in the military, or more specifically, in defense. They seem to symbolize a distant era, an era with many changes. But not all buildings here have such a distant history.

The fortifications around Amsterdam are called the "Amsterdam Defense Line". This defense line is actually a circular construction site around the Amsterdam capital. The Amsterdam Defense City was established by the Ministry of Defence from 1880 to 1920. It is built on some flood-prone areas (submerged areas), with 36 forts, two coast forts, two trade forts, three turrets, two permanent coast turrets, and two temporary coast turrets. Although some of these forts have been included in the building plan, they have never been built. In addition, the planned scope for the construction of the second turret and temporary civil engineering works was secured. These temporary civil works can be successfully constructed at one time. There are many ordnance depots scattered throughout the area. The central warehouses for these ordnances are in Zaandam and the defensive city of Amsterdam. These are all the fortifications built by the Netherlands to protect state property. The Amsterdam line of defense became the last line of defense for the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This provided strong military support for the Dutch's neutral policy stance.

Before these castles were built, the natural foundations of the construction sites were processed. For example: excavation of swamps and soils, piles of sand piles and enhanced compression of soils.

Sand piles were built between 1886 and 1894, and the architects created models and plans for the castle. At the same time, it was decided to build an engineering embankment on the grounds of Harlemmer. The embankment divides the development into two parts, the wetlands in the south and the drylands in the north. It is one of the few dikes dedicated to flooding. Elsewhere, existing dikes continue to be used. Between 1894 and 1897, the sand piles were transformed into fortifications. At the same time, the construction of the corresponding devices and the corresponding substructure for flooding began, and was completed in 1896. This plan is called a "small plan."

Later, protests over the construction of the castle increased. Obviously, it is much cheaper to equip an easy-moving fast army than to build expensive static castles, and it is also more effective in defense. However, the building continued, and between 1897 and 1905, 14 castles became bomb shelters.

In other respects, this line of defense has also changed. This small-scale project was expanded and several central armouries were established. In order to repair the flooded cracks in the underground armoury and the cracks opened by the enemy's artillery, a lot of dirt and sand were needed. In 1916, this line of defense became the Schiphol Military Airfield. Several military factories moved into the line of defense, such as the Weapons Factory, which moved from Delft to Heim Bridge near Zaandam.

At the beginning of World War I, the construction of two castles was forced to suspend, and the other two were never completed. There are also some castles, like the one next to the Fujk Canal, which is neither completed nor modernized (Abcord Castle). In the end, these castles lasted 33 years, costing 40 million guilders, four times more than estimated at the beginning of the project. Today, it has consumed 4 billion guilders, which is one third of the capital used to build the Delta Fortifications, which are used to prevent the country from being flooded by seawater.