Lighthouse Katwijk by Peter Sneijders

About "Lighthouse Katwijk"

by Peter Sneijders

About the artwork

The request to build a lighthouse was filed in 1605 by governor Prince Maurits. Eventually given here only in 1628 approved. Following Katwijk got any fishing village on the coast his own lighthouse or lighthouse.

On the roof lay a grid on which a wood fire with a lamp reflector was fired, later a coal fire and the mid-19th century, was placed in a light house. The fishing light was lit only when ships had gone out of its own fleet. Katwijk has never had a fishing port, although there was a waterway from the Haarlemmertrekvaart ran into the sea and pass Katwijk. The fishing boats were just on the beach. Four Boet is not near the mouth of the waterway, but a lot further south. Since 1913, the lighthouse is no longer in effect because there was no more ships arrived in Katwijk aan country.

During the First World War, the tower was used by the Royal Navy as a lookout. After the war, many houses in the vicinity of the Four Boet built, which had to be demolished during the Second World War when the Atlantic was built. The Four Boet was then placed a machine-gun post.

After the war, new houses were built, but north of the Four Boet was left space for the elongated Vuurbaak Square.

Four Boet is a national monument since 1971. In 2005, the lighthouse was 400 years. On this occasion, the tower was wrapped with shrink film and then given a graffiti artwork, which was removed after the summer.