Unknown Ostend
This is the story of the fort that never was. The first thing that strikes you about Fort Napoleon in Ostend is the dates: construction started in 1810 on the orders of Napoleon, and the fort (originally called Fort Impérial) was completed in 1814. We know now that by then Napoleon’s time was almost up. And, sure enough, Fort Napoleon never saw a shot fired in anger.
We found some off-beat spots in Flanders’ first City of Culture, including a fort that saw no conflict whatsoever
The idea was a good one. Napoleon feared the British would attack from the sea, as attempts at Bredene in 1798 and Walcheren in 1809 suggested. The fort is pentagonal, a form used for centuries because it gives the best outlook; two sides of the five provide a complete panorama of the horizon.
From the roof of the fort, you look out on the endless sea, and it’s easy to imagine the tense anticipation of waiting to see Her Majesty’s navy appearing over the horizon.
It never happened that way, but it might have.
We begin our visit on the first floor, where the soldiers who manned the fort were billetted. A free audio guide provides excellent, clear commentary in Dutch, English, French or German.
Fort Napoleon had several functions in its time. The French used it as a defence against a possible sea attack. The Germans used it as an officers’ mess. From 1932 until the Second World War, it was a local history museum. Following the Second World War, until the construction of the open-air leisure centre Duin & Zee in 1956, it even housed a children’s playground.
Following years of neglect, the fort has been restored as close to its original state as possible. Part of the first floor has been turned into a cocktail corner for functions, but the rest of the fort has been kept pristine. There’s no set dressing, which leaves everything up to the imagination.
When we’re told that the men were issued two blankets but made do with one and used the other to block window draughts, you can certainly imagine how cold and inhospitable the place must have been.
Downstairs, it was a different experience for the German officers in the First World War. They built a huge decorative fireplace and added frescoes to bring some warmth to the place. They also built a secret passage to allow them to import additional warmth, in the shape of Ostend’s ladies of the night.
On the ground floor we have access to the caponnières, one on each of the five walls. These long, low buildings (the name means a sort of henhouse) are lower than the floor of the fort, and each side has 10 slits through which the soldiers could shoot. In theory, attacking troops would scale the outer wall and, if they survived the six-metre drop on the inside, landed in a dry moat. The defenders in the caponnières could then pick them off from two sides with ease.
The caponnières provide positions for 200 men; the first floor was intended to provide billet space for 500. In fact, there were never more than about 150 living there – 100 fusiliers and additional artillerymen for the cannon and mortars on the roof.
After Napoleon was gone, the name was changed to Fort du Souverain, and then to Fort William after the Dutch king. In 1830, it was renamed again after the new Belgian king Leopold, and shortly after that it got its present name. The fort is now run by the Flemish heritage organisation Erfgoed Vlaanderen.
Fort Napoleon is open to the public Tuesday to Sunday until 31 October, and then Wednesday to Sunday thereafter. Nocturnes, groups and guided visits are available on request. To get there by coast tram, get off at the Duin & Zee stop.
www.fortnapoleon.be
A devastating siege that destroyed a city and made an infanta weep
Ostend was originally a village on the east end of the island of Testerep, with Westende, not surprisingly, at the west end. At the end of the 14th century the town decided to rebuild behind sea dykes. Ostend was now protected against the sea, but it continued to be battered by invaders, including the soldiers of Maximilian I of Austria, the British and the Dutch.
The most significant attacks came between 1601 and 1604 during the three-year Siege of Ostend. The Geuzen – Dutch rebels who opposed Spanish rule of the Netherlands – had taken refuge in Ostend, which had been fortified, ironically, by the Spanish governor of the Netherlands, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva, the so-called Iron Duke.
William of Orange’s son Maurits was leading the Dutch troops in Ostend, where they had withdrawn after the battle of Nieuwpoort in 1600. They were joined by Scots, English, Germans and French, for whom Ostend had become an enclave of Protestantism in a continent of Catholic rule.
The city was besieged by the Spanish troops of Archduke Albert of Austria, nephew of the Spanish king Philip II, who had given Albert and his new bride Isabella (Philip’s daughter) the Netherlands as a wedding gift.
The action lasted three years and three months, and left Ostend in ruins. About 77,000 lives were lost on both sides. By the end, the Dutch and their allies were using dead bodies to shore up the ramparts of their last entrenchment, which they named Little Troy.
When Albert and Isabella made a “triumphant” entry into the city following the surrender in 1604, Isabella is said to have wept at the desolation she saw. There followed a 12-year truce, during which Ostend was rebuilt.
The Napoleonic period, two centuries later, saw the construction of Fort Napoleon but no military action. Another century later came the First World War, and Ostend once more became a target for attack, this time to blockade the German submarine fleet based at Bruges-Zeebrugge, which threatened British shipping in the channel.
The British planned to attack Zeebrugge in 1917, but the plan was only carried out in April 1918, with 75 volunteer ships and a mere 200 soldiers. Two blockade ships were supposed to be sunk at the mouth of the Bruges-Ostend canal to prevent the U-boats’ escape.
So many things went wrong that the raid was a failure, though it was not reported as such at the time. The British lost eight men, and the U-boats could still make it out to sea. The operation served as a warning when it came time for the planning of the operation on Saint-Nazaire in the Second World War.
At Saint-Nazaire, Allied forces attacked a heavily defended German-occupied port in Normandy, rendering it useless for the repair of large vessels and thus forcing them to return home to Germany. Because it was such a blow to the Germans, Hitler ordered the construction of an Atlantic Wall defending Dutch, French and Belgian ports on the coasts facing Britain.
Many of the bunkers built for the Atlantic Wall are still visible along the coast. The promenade along the front at Ostend, as well as some harbour installations and the railways serving them, were damaged by Allied bombardment before the D-Day landings.
Once again, the attack, when it came, was not at Ostend. Although defences on the Atlantic Wall had been ordered by Berlin to fight to the last man, when the Ostend batteries were finally challenged, they put up little resistance, and the town was taken without damage.
Ostend: City of Culture
While you're in Ostend visiting Fort Napoleon, don't forget that it's Ostend's big year: the coastal city has been named the very first City of Culture, a biennial designation to bring performances and audiences to Flemish cities under-utilised by artists. Besides motivating the city to bring in national and international acts, larger audiences are discovering the quality festivals it hosts every year. This week alone offers a wealth of choice.
FUZEE! 10 For four Saturdays during the summer, this evening street theatre festival takes over Ostend. This weekend marks the final one, and it all ends with a pyromania spectacle of sparks and flame. 28 August, across Ostend, from 20.00
MooN 2010 Composer Michaël Vancraeynest and artist Brigitte Claeys, both of Ostend, collaborated on this new work of orchestral music, choir and video art. Dieter Staelens conducts Camerata Ostendia choir and the Arcabaleno Orchestra, among others, for this emotional performance, inspired by the tides. 28 August, 20.00, Kursaal Ostend, Monacoplein
Fin d'Saison It's worth saying goodbye to summer just to get to Ostend's official end-of- summer celebration. Theatre, installations and clever musical performances are staged in the city's beach cabins. Stop at one to see a photography exhibition, another to watch a puppet show, the next to hear a mermaid's song. The evening ends with the Fin d'Saison ball featuring DJs Dedju and SaVa. 29 August, from 10.00, on the beach. Bal: from 19.00, Vrijstaat O, Zeedijk 10
www.oostende2010.be
