Photo: Optilete · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Star fort · Bourtange, Netherlands
Fort BourtangeSuspected
- Dated
- Built 1593; restored 1967–92
- Declared purpose
- Fortified village
- Today
- Survives, open-air museum
- Build time
- Built 1593
- Region
- Europe
- On the list as
- Suspected
Why it's on the list
A five-pointed star fort, the same geometry found on every continent.
Hidden history
Found, Not Built
A five-pointed star fort ringed by double moats, built in 1593 and restored between 1967 and 1992 to how it looked in the mid-1700s.
Why researchers flag it
A five-pointed star fort, the same geometry found on every continent.
The star shape
The same pointed-bastion star plan appears from the Netherlands to Japan to the Americas. Researchers ask why one geometry turns up on every continent.
Restored to a date
It was rebuilt to its mid-18th-century state. The question: what did restorers find under the later fill?
Questions worth asking
- Why the same star geometry everywhere?
- Were star forts only for cannon, or for something else?
Possible original uses
- Fort
- Village
What the photos show
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Sources
Further viewing
Episodes from My Lunch Break (Michael Kruse), the main lens for this app. They open on YouTube.
