Legacy of the Rhine

1. The Pan Oven (I 10)
In the 19th century you saw brick factories everywhere along the Gelderland rivers. The thick layers of river clay made the area very suitable for this. The characteristic towers of the brick kilns formed striking eye-catchers in the flat river landscape. The brick factories provided a lot of employment, although the work was hard and poorly paid. The brick making was seasonal: as soon as the bricks were left to dry in the summer, the work was done for the workers. They often moved on with their families to look for work elsewhere. De Panoven brick factory was, like many brick factories, a family business. Bricks, roof tiles and tiles have been produced for over 130 years, the last 100 years under the management of the Kruitwagen family. Steenfabriek de Panoven used a round zigzag oven that could burn continuously. After 1950, the brick-making craft had a hard time. Manufacturing became mechanized, fewer brick factories were needed. The De Panoven Brick Factory also had to suffer. In 1983, Wim Kruitwagen extinguished the fire in the brick oven. Most brick factories in Gelderland have been demolished, but the Kruitwagen family has just opened their doors again. As an industrial heritage site, Buitengoed de Panoven offers a glimpse into the world of brickmakers. Worth seeing is the still intact round zigzag oven, the last of its kind in Western Europe. In addition to the museum, Buitengoed de Panoven also offers space for hotel rooms, group accommodations, conference rooms and a restaurant.

2. The Turmac (I6)
The building is still popularly called'the Turmac\\\', after the official company name'Turkish-Macedonian Tobacco Company\\\'. The factory owes its name to its first director, the Turkish Kiazim Emin Bey. He gave the Turmac cigarette an exotic touch by adding tobacco from Turkey and Macedonia and decorating the packaging with pictures of women with turbans smoking on a chaise longue. When sales fell due to anti-smoking campaigns at the end of the 20th century, the Turmac was produced under a foreign license. Since 2000 they have done so under the flag of British American Tobacco, BAT Zevenaar for short.
From 1960 the Turmac produced under the name Peter Stuyvesant. Then-director Alexander Orlow started an art collection, which later became the world-famous Peter Stuyvesant collection. He filled the workshops with work by modern artists such as Karel Appel, Armando and Corneille to stimulate the work ethic and break the monotony of the work. Before the factory closed in 2008, B&W tried to preserve art for Zevenaar by opening a museum for corporate art, but this plan received insufficient support. The collection was then auctioned. The works now hang in top museums all over the world. The building is now used as a town hall.
3. The Kleve enclaves (W23)
In 1355, Count Reinoud III of Gelre was in need of money. He pawned Ambt Liemers and Emmerik to his colleague in Kleve, but never asked for them back later. For a long time, several villages in the Betuwe, the Ooij and the Liemers (Zevenaar, Duiven, Groessen and Loo) fell under Kleef's authority. Then they were moved like pawns across the chessboard for centuries, from Cleves, to Prussia, to France or the Netherlands and back again. At the beginning of the 19th century, the changes of power followed each other so quickly that the Zevenaar mayor Bötterich operated under three flags during his 18-year term in office. It was not until 1816 that the enclaves finally became part of the Netherlands. The foreign authorities were hard on the residents of the enclaves. The occupiers saw the area as a land and emptied it as much as they could. They demanded bread, grain and flour and made the residents work for them. Many people lived in poverty. Add to this the floods that often hit the wetland area, and it is understandable why a flow of refugees started.
After Napoleon was defeated, the Congress of Vienna (1814-1816) redrew the European map. The Netherlands and Belgium were merged. But the fact that the Kleve enclaves also joined the Netherlands again is rarely mentioned in history books. The 200th anniversary of our kingdom has now been celebrated, and two years later the Liemers will commemorate its joining the Netherlands.
4. Elten - 14 years Dutch, now German again
Elten is a quiet and friendly German village right on the national border. You can hardly imagine that this village in particular has often been the subject of negotiations in the past. After the Second World War, the Netherlands wanted compensation for the 'war suffering' that the Germans had caused. Compensation that could be paid in gold, goods, labor or land. Since a bald chicken cannot be plucked from, compensation in the form of'land\\\' was the most obvious option. In 1949, the Netherlands became 69 km2 larger and 10,000 Germans richer. The village of Elten was added to the Netherlands. It resulted in an invasion of Dutch tourists, with a lot of interest in the 80 meter high Elterberg. A few months after capture, the first session of the German parliament took place. Soon the 'land grab' started to bother me. After years of negotiations, an agreement was reached in 1960: the areas were transferred back to Germany in exchange for 125 million German Marks for Dutch Nazi victims: the'Wiedergutmachung\\\'. And so, on August 1, 1963, the village of Elten became German territory again after 14 years.
5. The Glorious Crossing of Louis XIV (W22)
In 1672, the Dutch War (1672-1679) started between the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and the French 'Sun King' Louis XIV. Louis wanted to expand his territory and conquer the small but powerful Republic of the Netherlands at all costs. He marched north with 120,000 men, the largest army Europe had ever seen. Contrary to expectations, he left the Dutch stronghold of Maastricht and entrenched himself with his men on the east bank of the Rhine near Lobith.
The French, led by General Condé, received help from a local farmer, who pointed out a ford in the river. A day later the French were on the other side of the Rhine, near Tolhuis Castle. The Dutch soldiers had orders to stop, or at least slow down, the advance of the French. But during the first attack by 2,000 French horsemen, the Dutch mercenaries proved to be no match for the well-trained French army. The victory was celebrated in France as a great victory. However, General Condé was seriously injured. The consequences for the Netherlands were catastrophic: 1672 went down in history as the'Disaster Year\\\'.

6. The Spijkse Overlaat (I9)
'... a roaring waterfall that has started to growl its way through the bed of the Oude Rijn.\\\' This is what it sounded like when the Spijkse Overlaat flooded the Rijnstrangen polder area again in the winter of 1941. A spillway is an artificially lowered location in a dike that directs the river water into an emergency overflow area at high water levels. This reduces the pressure on the dikes and can prevent a dike breach or flooding. The use of a spillway was always an emergency solution, because the residents of such an emergency overflow area did not want wet feet and a flooded house. That is why there were often loud protests when an area was designated by the government as an emergency overflow area. And conversely, also joy when the Spijkse Overlaat was put out of action in 1956. In the garden of Villa Copera on the Spijksedijk near Tolkamer you can see a last remnant of the protective wall of the Spijkse spillway. The Oude Rijn pumping station near Pannerden took over the task of the spillway. Nowadays, the Kandia pumping station near Groessen ensures a stable, low water level in the Rijnstrangen. The Driedorpenpolder between Aerdt and Pannerden is the only tangible remnant of the period of the spillways.

7. Toll collection in Tolkamer (W21)
At the beginning of the 17th century, Lobith was located on the Rhine. There was a toll house here, where skippers paid tolls. But the river was erratic and the Rhine moved slowly. After a dike breach in 1711, the Rhine no longer ran past Lobith, but past the village 1 km further south, the current Tolkamer. From now on, tolls were paid in Tolkamer. But was Tolkamer on the border? Sometimes yes, sometimes no! The area around the junction of the Rhine and Waal was strategically important and was often fought over. In the 17th century it was alternately French, German, Spanish and Dutch. That is why Tolkamer was sometimes on the border and sometimes not!
In the 17th century, Tolkamer got a toll house. It was often very busy. The toll collector collected the skippers' tax money from the quay. Later, customs officers checked the ship's holds for illegal trade in cigarettes, liquor and even people. Then the passengers sought entertainment on shore. They did some shopping in the village and socialized in the cafes. Since the abolition of the European internal borders in 1993, skippers have been sailing past Tolkamer. But the hustle and bustle has remained. The customs office from 1905 has now been converted into a hotel. Tourists and day trippers provide liveliness on shore as they watch shipping traffic on one of the busiest waterways in Europe from the Europakade.

8. Roman fortress Carvium (R12)
There used to be a border fort, a castellum, on the site of the De Byland water recreation area. Historians deduce this from the discovery of many military objects found when dredging the area. In Roman times, there was most likely a border fort on the site of the current recreational lake De Bijland: a castellum. One of the masterpieces found during the dredging of the former Bylandsche Waard is a silver-plated sword scabbard of a centurion of Legio I Germanica. The Legio Germanica was a legion that had to defend the limes, the border of the empire, in our region in the 1st century. During the Batavian Revolt led by Julius Civilis, the legion sided with Civilis. After the uprising, Emperor Vespasian punished the defectors by disbanding the legion: Legio I Germanica ceased to exist.
The castellum bore the name'Carvium\\\'. We know this from the inscription on the tombstone of Marcus Mallius that was found here, see a little further along the route. The castellum was in function until the year 275. It may also have been in use in the fourth century.

9. Marcus Mallius
In 1938 a special discovery was made in De Bijland. A gravestone was found during the construction of the current recreational lake. This stone dates from the first half of the first century AD, at the beginning of Roman rule in our region. It was made in memory of the Roman legionary Marcus Mallius.
This tombstone is one of the most famous Roman finds in the Netherlands. It can be deduced from the text that both the Dam of Drusus and the Roman fort Carvium were located here. Drusus was a Roman general. To this day, research is being done into the dams and canals he had built. You can see the original gravestone in Museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen. The stone placed here is a replica.
The translation of the text on the stone is as follows: Marcus Mallius, son of Marcus, from the district of Galeria, from Genoa. Soldier of the first legion, from Ruso's unit, 35 years old, with 16 years of service, was buried in Carvium (Herwen) near the dam according to his will.
His two heirs had this stone made.
10. Huis Aerdt (B2)
Huis Aerdt in Herwen dates from 1652 and was built on the foundations of a medieval castle. Godefridus van Hugenpoth, who was closely involved in the construction of the Bijlands Canal, once lived here. Huis Aerdt in Herwen was built in 1652 on the foundations of the medieval Ter Cluse castle. The castle was shot to pieces by the Spanish during the Eighty Years' War. Godefridus van Hugenpoth lived here from 1743 to 1819. But Van Hugepoth's influence extended beyond his native village. At the end of the 18th century, Van Hugenpoth was Inspector General of the upper rivers and dikes of the Bijlandse Waard. In that position he was responsible for the construction of the Bijlands Canal (1773-1777). The canal stabilized water management in the west of the country. Van Hugenpoth is therefore called 'savior of the west'. He was one of the founders of our Rijkswaterstaat. After WWII, Huis Aerdt was threatened with demolition. There was no money to repair the war damage. In 1961 it was sold for one guilder to the Friends of Geldersche Kasteelen Foundation, which restored the building to its former glory. Nowadays Huis Aerdt is also a wedding location. The area between the Bijlands Canal and the old bend in the Waal is now the domain for water sports enthusiasts.