Brielle, also known as Den Briel, is a town and municipality in the Dutch province of South Holland situated on the island of Voorne. The municipality is part of the Metropolitan region Rotterdam The Hague.
Brielle is situated on the Brielse Meer, a dammed up part of the Meuse that has developed into an important recreational area. It lies to the east of the old channel Brielse Gat. Until 1700 this water was used as a connection to Rotterdam, after that silting occurred which made the Gat less navigable. The Goereese Gat was an alternative.
Part of Brielle is a protected cityscape. With its almost 400 national monuments on a population of less than 12,000, the city together with Harlingen owns the most monuments per inhabitant in the whole of the Netherlands.
The city still owns its old city walls, built according to the old Dutch fortification system. The fortress belt of Den Briel has nine bastions and five ravelins and was restored between 1972 and 1975. Since 1713, little has changed to the fortress, making it one of the most important remaining fortifications in the Netherlands.
I'm Jeroen, and I'll spare you the long introduction. ;) If you're looking for a landscape photo for your wall, you've come to the right place... Read more…