Restoration of Heusden

Thanks to the free field of fire around the fortress, there had never been any construction in the immediate vicinity of Heusden, so that a wide view of the Meuse and the surrounding polder landscape had always remained. Even in the town itself there was hardly any building activity. The impoverishment that occurred in the nineteenth century had turned Heusden into a dilapidated monument town. Especially after the war devastation of 1944, the town was badly battered. The municipal government was faced with the task of restoring and growing the town. Around 1960, a metropolitan plan was unfolded that assumed economies of scale and space for cars. This included high-rise buildings - overlooking the Meuse River! - and of several breakthroughs through the old ramparts for the purpose of good connecting roads. However, under pressure from the National Office for the Preservation of Historic Buildings, this plan disappeared from the table, whereupon the municipality engaged the urban planning office of the architects Zuiderhoek and Peetoom. They respected the historical structure of the city, taking old maps and plans as the starting point for their work. Implementation of the restoration began in 1968. Initially, the cost of this large-scale project was estimated at six million guilders, but partly due to the high interest rates in the 1980s, the budget was exceeded many times over. A reconstruction of the ramparts was also part of the restoration. Two city gates were rebuilt, and the old city harbor was restored by excavating the 1904 walking park. The surrounding houses were constructed based on Blaeu's map from 1649. The Visbank, dating from 1796, and the Commiezenhuis, demolished in 1904, were also restored to their former glory. Heusden was certainly not to become an open-air museum, but a town in which people also lived and worked.

For the thorough manner in which the city had taken the restoration in hand, Heusden received the National Monument Prize in 1975 and, in 1978, the highest European award in the field, the restoration prize "Europa Nostra. But there was also criticism, mainly caused by the large cost overruns. Therefore, around 1980, concessions were made to the original intentions of the restoration project. Nevertheless, the choice for a large-scale restoration of the fortress was a good one, as evidenced by the large number of people who visit the fortress every year. The soldiers of yesteryear have given way to art lovers and water sports enthusiasts.