The Canal Ring, the Beemster Polder and the Amsterdam Defence Line are all part of the same big story: how the people of Holland were able, through the centuries, to give shape substance to the landscape they lived in and make it serve their needs.
The Amsterdam city authority, the venture capitalists of the Beemster Company, the Ministry of War – it was technological innovation that enabled each and every one of them to transform sodden peat marshes into a fertile, aesthetic and accommodating landscape.
The World Heritage sites in and around Amsterdam illustrate better than anything else the ‘building blocks’ of the kingdom of the Netherlands. We must care for these areas so that future generations can also enjoy the never-ending avenues of trees in the Beemster, a boat trip through the canals, and the green and open no-man’s land of bygone eras. Three UNESCO World Heritage sites, unique for present and future generations!
This film is about the the Beemster Polder.
