Fort Sint-Michiel

Fort Sint-Michiel was a Spanish fort situated in Venlo, the Netherlands. It was named after the archangel Michael. Construction of this fort started in 1641 on Michaelmas, September 29. It was demolished in 1867.

In 1632, Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (Dutch nickname: De Stedendwinger, the Conqueror of Cities), conquered the city of Venlo from the Spaniards in the Eighty Years' War. In 1637, after a long siege, he lost the city to the same Spaniards. Although the city had built a solid defense structure during the 16th century, a decision was made to build this fort on the west bank of the river Meuse. In 1646, Frederick Henry took another attempt to siege the city. Because the fort was already completed by then, he failed in his attempt.

Around 1450, there was already a fortification on the west bank. When the city of Venlo was added to the Dutch Republic in the 18th century, three new forts were built around the city: Fort Ginkel (named after Godard van Reede, Baron Ginkel, the local military commander at that time), Fort Beerendonck (named after a former farmhouse at that site) and Fort Keulen (Fort Cologne).

The 14th century Tegelpoort (Gate to Tegelen) was replaced by the Roermondsepoort (Gate to Roermond). Because the military needed more space throughout the years, the barracks were found too small. After all, soldiers were still located in the houses of the citizens of Venlo. Therefore, the commander decided to have the soldiers located into bigger barracks and the forts.

In the 18th century, a report mentioned the severe state of the forts, especially Fort St. Michiel. Furthermore, the fort was situated too far from the river according to that report. This made the fort easy to conquer. Therefore, in 1831 Fort Leopold was built, an earth based fort named after Leopold I of Belgium.

In 1867, a Royal Decree issued the slighting of all strongholds in the Netherlands. Only two small pieces of the Venlo stronghold (the so-called Luif at the riverside and a lunette on the southside) remained. The fort Sint-Michiel, like all other fortifications in Venlo, was torn down to the ground. The sub-terrainean remains were left untouched.

At the very same place, the Barracks of Frederick Henry (Frederik Hendrikkazerne) arose between 1910 and 1913, a vast new barracks which included an officers mess, several arsenals, a military hospital and horse stables.

Text adapted from “Fort Sint-Michiel (Venlo)” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fort Sint-Michiel ranks #5,920 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #79 of the 201 mapped in Netherlands. Founded 1641, it is older than 29% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 626 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. 6 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Roermond, 23 km away. See how Netherlands compares in the castle statistics.

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