Fort de Bilt

Fort de Bilt stands on Utrecht’s eastern side, beside the road towards De Bilt and Zeist. The fortress formed part of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie, a defensive system using water to protect the Netherlands. Built between 1816 and 1819, it guarded the route connecting Utrecht with De Bilt.

Modernisation added new defensive structures, including concrete machine-gun bunkers from the 1930s. In 1929, the road was driven through the site, dividing the fortress into northern and southern halves. Wooden houses nearby reflect the Kringenwet, which restricted construction around military defences. The northern half later hosted educational programmes about tolerance, war, peace and resistance, while the southern half remains in use by the Koninklijke Marechaussee.

The memorial landscape gives this military site its gravest meaning. A belfry, an execution bunker and name plaques commemorate resistance fighters killed here during the Second World War. A memorial by Leo Jungblut has stood here since 1949, although later research found inaccuracies in the plaques’ names and numbers. Walking and cycling routes connect the fort with other Utrecht waterline defences, while the protected buildings preserve both the military landscape and its difficult twentieth-century history.