Fort Bourtange

About this place

Bourtange is a star-shaped fortified village in the east of Groningen province near the German border, about 48 km southeast of the city of Groningen and 170 km northeast of Amsterdam in a straight line. About 430 people live there. The fort was built in 1593 on a sand ridge in the Bourtange marshes, which gave it its name: «tange» means sand ridge. It was used until 1851 and then became an ordinary village. In the 1960s it was decided to return it to its mid-18th-century state, and it was gradually restored between 1967 and 1992; it is now an open-air museum. Moats and green earthen ramparts in the shape of a five-pointed star surround the village, crossed by red wooden drawbridges. Inside are a cobbled square lined with lime trees, old brick houses with red roofs, and a windmill. Visitors walk the ramparts and bridges and look inside restored officers' and soldiers' houses and the powder magazine. Historical events are held at the fort in summer, and the full star shape shows clearly in aerial photos.