Grebbe Line Visitor's Centre

The story of one of the great water defence lines, the Grebbe Line, begins in a new visitor's centre at the Fort aan de Buursteeg fortress. This Grebbe Line consisted of a series of fortresses and defence line dikes between Rhenen and Spakenburg and represented the Netherlands' main defence for over 200 years.

The Grebbe Line has been revived on and around the defensive walls of the fortress. The stories of the wooden soldiers help visitors understand its history. They show how this strip of land that could be flooded as a defence line was cleverly used to protect the country during the eighty-year war and up until World War II. Experience the century-old military history of the defence line in the exhibition space, enjoy a bite to eat and something to drink in Restaurant Grebbelounge or start your own journey of exploration along the defence line.

After that, the Grebbe Line Visitor's Centre is the perfect starting point from where to discover more of the wooden soldiers' stories. If you look carefully, you can find numerous traces hidden in a mysterious green landscape. By finding old locks, concrete casemates, anti-tank obstacles and German bunkers, you can really get to grips with over two centuries of defending this country. Meanwhile, keep an eye out for the multitude of birds, butterflies and other creatures that live on the Grebbe Line.