Pampus

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, in Dutch. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

INTRODUCTION

Fort aan het Pampus forms part of the former Stelling van Amsterdam, the ring fortification of permanent defensive structures surrounding the capital, which also served as National Reduit and was constructed between 1880 and 1920 by the Department of War. The fort lies as an island in the mouth of the IJ and is flanked by two coastal batteries at Diemerdam and Durgerdam. The capital (frontal face of the fort) is oriented virtually northwards. The construction of the fort and associated buildings lasted from 1887-1895. According to military command structure the fort lay within the Ouderkerk sector, Diemerbrug group. The fort was not placed in a section, but stood independently, like the coastal fort at IJmuiden. The designation of the fort stated: "1st - to prevent bombardment of the city of Amsterdam from the sea; 2nd - to prevent the enemy from penetrating by water over the Pampus to that city or to the Oranjesluizen; 3rd - to contribute to the combating of hostile operations against any fortification section within the fort's field of fire (Zuiderzee front)." The fort lost its reason for existence in 1932 with the closure of the Zuiderzee by the Afsluitdijk; by Royal Decree of 9 October 1952 Fort aan het Pampus was decommissioned as a fortified work.

DESCRIPTION

The island and the buildings were constructed on a scheme of two circles overlapping by one third of the radius, with gun cupolas serving as focal points. The interior layout also derives from this. For the construction of the island the seabed was excavated down to the sand bank and subsequently filled and raised with sand from the Muiderzand. Around the island a band of basalt stones was laid below the water surface to prevent landing on the fort; on the gorge side this band is interrupted just beyond the fort's axis for a landing pier (no longer in original condition; replaced), which provides the only access to the island. The earthworks of the island consist of a glacis that rises gently from the basalt-edged bank to the dry ditch. The thin layer of earth on the building complex within the ditch was removed. The construction of the fort island consists of an extensive bomb-proof complex within the dry ditch in the oval ground plan of the island. In the outer wall of the ditch (counterscarp) a passage runs around with several rooms on either side, on the gorge side even a series of chambers adjacent to one another. The main building, which was founded on wooden piles 11 metres in length, was constructed in masonry and concrete. The masonry laid in stretcher bond was used for the walls and the facing of the outer wall on the gorge side, as well as for the cupola towers built entirely in brick. Unreinforced cement concrete with brick fragments or porphyry slag as aggregate material was used as concrete. This was used for the floors, the segmental arch vaults and roof coverings, the front wall (with a passage within it) facing the dry ditch and the walls on the storey. On the main building stands between the cupola shafts a concrete ring base with an iron pivot and degree divisions in the concrete. Towards the gorge, between the gorge batteries, above the boiler rooms the concrete chimney base is visible. On the roof stand the brick remains of two small buildings which probably date from the Second World War, consisting of a brick building with two concrete pads for an installation, as well as a small brick building for which mortared bases stand. In the layout of the main building a rough three-part division can be made. The chambers are connected along two main passages running the length of the building (west-east). The more important of the two runs along the fort's diameter and has large doorways to the dry ditch at both ends; the passage had a wooden floor and connects the two cupola shafts. The section between the cupola shafts consisted of two storeys. Within it were two connecting passages. Two flight stairs connected both levels. The passages through the masonry of the cupola shafts are spanned with barrel vaults, as is the passage on level towards the armoured positions on the gorge. The other long connecting passage lies to the south parallel to the first, is narrower and has window openings rather than doors at its ends. Here double privies are arranged in the southern wall with the bowls remaining in their sittings. A cross passage on the north-south axis of the fort connects the two passages and makes the connection to the gorge bear towards the south. Between the two longitudinal passages lie three strips of chambers which also differ functionally. The northern series contains various functions including central water reservoir (reservoir no longer present), storage spaces, foodstuff storage, kitchen and canteen; around and between the gun cupolas the chambers are intended for ammunition storage. Essentially this fort section is two chambers deep, provided with connecting passages to the central corridor. The middle strip, with the exception of the ends which served as kitchen and residential chambers, was intended for the assembly of grenades: gunpowder, cartridge cases, cartridge case filling place, projectile filling place, chamber for filled projectiles are arranged in successive 'production line' towards the cupola shaft. At the cupola lies the hoisting room where two vertical shafts are cut out in the masonry of the cupola cylinder down to the intermediate storey. Like the powder magazines of the northern part, all spaces here were provided with closed lamp niches. The chambers are connected to each other via passages in which wooden revolving doors were installed. There are only a few doors between the chambers and the central passage. These doors were not all closed with the aforementioned doors but also provided with a second wooden (sliding) door of single leaf hung on an iron rail. These locations can be identified by the rails or by the recesses in the wall thickness. From the second, southern passage, from this middle section only the cross passage on the axis opens, two passages near the ends and the chambers beside them. The southern part housed the men's quarters, a series of spacious chambers approximately 12 metres long and 4 or 5 metres wide. Each chamber has, besides a connection between the rooms themselves on the gorge side, a passage to the passage and two window openings to the dry ditch. Unusual in this section is the double chamber next to the cross passage (steam boilers, dynamo room) which has a large opening to the ditch. Now only the installation bases are visible here. At the eastern end are the privies, which damaged show the bowls in their sittings and the natural stone slabs of the urinal basins and furthermore the bases of a sink and pump, with fragments of a tile wall. The stone bears on the front and gorge sides on the fort's axis lie several steps lower than the floor level in the building and return on the far side of the ditch at the counterscarp to the old level. The bears are identical, with five round gun ports to the ditch on both sides. The northern bear is executed in unreinforced concrete of extremely narrow horseshoe-shaped cross-section and is ventilated via small openings to the ditch. Around the main building lies the dry ditch which, like the floors in the fort, has its ground level just above NAP. Relative to the top edge of the counterscarp the ditch has a depth of just over six metres with a constant width of just over eight metres. The passage around the ditch is interrupted in two places by the stone bears on the fort's north and south axis. From these bears and from four gun ports in the guard rooms of the counterscarp (northwest and northeast) the entire ditch could be swept. The ditch floor consists of a concrete bed which lies separate from the adjacent foundations. Along the outer edge runs a gutter. Although nothing of the finishing remained intact, the location of virtually all elements can be determined by construction traces. The seven zinc sumps are legible as holes in the floor. The bases for the rainwater tanks (for kettle water and drinking water) on either side of the southern bear lie as concrete raised areas in the ditch. The location of the storage shed on the west is also recognizable. Of the privies and urinals against the exterior of the counterscarp only fragments and vestiges remained: in the southern wall these are the two mirrored rows of privies preserved as niches separated by masonry in the concrete wall and whose sittings and discharge pots are damaged but present; on the southeast and southwest natural stone slabs against the wall indicate the locations of the urinals. In the southeastern wall section, beside the termination of the counterscarp chambers (expansion joint) a rising must in the masonry indicates the location of the stairs to the glacis and nearby a must of a gabled roof. Also along the top edges of both the counterscarp wall and the main building some fixing points of railing posts are visible. The counterscarp is entirely constructed in unreinforced stone slag concrete finished with cement plaster. Connection is made via the stone bears to the main building and access from the ditch is beside the southern bear at chamber 1. This southern section contains nine chambers each with a water cellar arranged which is spanned by concrete trough vaults on iron beams. A hatch opening (closing lids have disappeared) makes them individually accessible. With brick partition walls the chambers are separated from a continuous passage on the ditch side. The counterscarp passage was designed as a narrow horseshoe-shaped narrow concrete passage; the passage runs completely around and connects to chambers 8 and 9 in the south and the bear in the north. In the counterscarp two guard houses for ditch defence were accommodated, each consisting of two chambers and located on the continuous passage, with a climbing shaft upwards. In the guard rooms machine guns were positioned behind the gun ports. These chambers are provided with an extra concrete protective collar at ground level. Along the top edge a gun gallery with ammunition niches is cut out all around. On the fort's transverse axis a round shaft (lift shaft) is added to this on the east and west which connects to the passage below. On the glacis two facilities are particularly important. Two separate external privies are placed on the southeast and southwest. These are spaces sunk into the glacis on a rectangular ground plan with urinals on one long wall (natural stone wall slabs damaged but present) and opposite private bowls (natural stone partition between the bowls disappeared; bowls in some cases present). A later addition to the fort's defensive capability concerns the three octagonal concrete beds which were laid in 1926 on north, northeast and northwest against the counterscarp. On the glacis is further a fort keeper's dwelling present (built in the Second World War), as well as a wooden shed, which are of secondary importance for protection.

VALUATION

Fort Pampus is of architectural-historical value as a unique form of a sea fort in the history of realized fortification construction; as a complex of fort island with buildings and surrounding stone wall below the water surface; owing to its place in the development of brick and concrete as combined building materials and their application in military architecture. It is of cultural-historical value as an element from military history, specifically the history of permanent fortification construction in the Netherlands in the period 1874-1920, the object being part of the ring fortification Stelling van Amsterdam.