Vestingwallen Willemstad

Ruigenhil, that's what Willemstad used to be called. It was 1583, the Spaniards were advancing. We must stop that Duke of Parma, he must not get hold of our shipping lanes! That's what William of Orange thought, and that's why he had the fortifications built: an imposing hexagon of canals and ramparts with five bastions. When later the French also advanced, the ramparts in Willemstad were no longer enough and forts were added.