To commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death of Prince Maurice of Nassau on 23 April 2025, a new exhibition opened at Het Bolwerk museum in IJzendijke on 26 April 2025. This exhibition is part of a larger project in collaboration with Museum Hulst, Museum Het Warenhuis Axel, School Museum Terneuzen, Museum Het Belfort Sluis and the Heemkundige Kring Terneuzen, Heemkundige Kring Sas van Gent, Heemkundige Kring Philippine, Cultuurforum Aardenburg and Heemkundige Kring West-Zeeuws Vlaanderen.
Museum
Museum Het Bolwerk in the town of IJzendijke is the knowledge centre of the State-Spanish Lines. In present-day Zeeuws-Vlaanderen from Retranchement in the west to Nieuw-Namen in the east and in Flanders from Knokke-Heist in the west to Antwerp in the east, hundreds of forts, lines, fortifications and dykes were built over three centuries. Many of these lines and fortifications can be found in today’s landscape.
The State-Spanish Lines are the remnants of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century military defences built during the period from the Eighty Years’ War (1568-1648) to the French Period (1794).
The focus of Museum Het Bolwerk’s collection is on the period of the Eighty Years’ War with its forts, entrenchments and fortified towns, known as the State-Spanish Lines. A unique complex of defence works. Unique because part of the genesis of the Netherlands is still visible and tangible in the landscape here. Through a wide range of activities, Museum Het Bolwerk functions as the knowledge centre of the State-Spanish Lines.
Target groups
- Visitors, especially from Belgium, who purposefully come to Zeeuws-Vlaanderen to learn more about the history of the region and in particular the State-Spanish lines.
- Tourists and residents of the region who want to discover the lines on foot or by bicycle/car.
- Scholars/students researching the cultural and/or military history of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen and wider Flanders.
- Students looking for information for writing their thesis.
Background exhibition
With the project Commemorating Maurice’s 400th anniversary of his death, Museum Het Bolwerk wants to contribute to the Province of Zeeland’s policy of making Zeeland’s history and heritage more accessible to a wide audience. The project will show what consequences the course of the 80-year war had on the landscape, demographic, religious, economic and social development for Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, with an emphasis on Prince Maurice’s part in it.
23 April 2025 marks the 400th anniversary of Prince Maurice’s death. A great occasion to commemorate and deepen his significance for Zeeuws-Vlaanderen during the 80-year war.
The exhibition
Biography about Maurice, his transformation of the army into a well-oiled machine (the market in IJzendijke was his exercise ground), a survey map with the most important towns/villages in State Flanders where Maurice was present, the separation between him and Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, his relations with his mistresses and the birth of his bastard children, a model of a battle and a replica of Maurice’s coat of arms.
Activities
The Knowledge Centre of Museum Het Bolwerk has set up a new exhibition by means of dibonds, banners, family coats of arms, armour, maps, etchings, replicas and purchase and loan of objects related to Prince Maurice and his stay in West Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. A permanent projection room has been set up for the exhibition. The older exhibitions on Farnese and Spinola have been merged and redesigned in one room.
A show on Prince Maurice and IJzendijke will be organised in the summer of 2025.
To create more space for the exhibitions, video presentation and other public areas (Library, coffee corner), the sales room has been relocated. To create a complete overview of a number of stories and facts, a book will also be published with the working title ‘The campaigns of Prince Maurice in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen’. To this end, an author has already been commissioned to produce a publication. There is also a leaflet for all participants and spectacles in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen with dates, locations, address details, opening times and duration of the respective exhibitions.
Education
The exhibition should also contribute to the promotion of historical education for schoolchildren and other groups. To this end, Het Bolwerk, in collaboration with the primary schools Schuttershoek and Molenbolwerk, has already developed a teaching package for group 7 and 8 for primary schools in IJzendijke. The intention is to offer this teaching package to Cultuureducatie Zeeland and broaden it to all primary schools in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen (starting with the School Museum in Terneuzen).
Finally, scavenger hunts have been set up inside and outside Museum Het Bolwerk. The outdoor scavenger hunt includes a visit to the remains of Het Ravelijn, Maurice’s statue on the Markt and the Mauritskerk in IJzendijke, the first Protestant church in Zeeland, which was allowed to be built with Maurice’s permission.
The Hurgronje Family Fund covered the acquisition and furnishing costs for the replica of Maurice’s coat of arms.
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