The Eighty Years’ War marks the beginning of the fortress’ history. In 1580 prince William of Orange ordered the building of a redoubt with five bastions on a sandy ridge in the swamps near the Dutch- German border. The road that connected the city of Groningen with Germany used to run over this sandy ridge, or ‘tange’ in Dutch. The Spanish, the adversaries of the Dutch during the war, used the road to bring supplies to the city of Groningen, which was in Spanish hands. Prince William hoped to isolate the city by building the redoubt. It would take many years for the city to surrender. All the while the redoubt was reinforced and it was completed in 1593 under the command of count Willem Lodewijk van Nassau. After Groningen surrendered, on 23 July 1594, the Bourtange fortress became part of the northern Netherlands’ defence structure.


Throughout the centuries the structure was further reinforced until the onset of ‘modern warfare’. A little over a century after Bourtange lost its military status, the town council of Vlagtwedde, in an attempt to revive the community, decided to reconstruct the fortress to the way it was in the year 1742, when the fortress was at its largest.


Today, Bourtange is a fortified town in which time appears to have stood still. The fortifications, the museums, the historic events, the market square and the original cannons are just a few of the sites of this town.