See-through panels are corten steel frames with a transparent plate. On that plate, a drawing visualises an object/activity that is not (or no longer) visible in the landscape. Through the correct perspective of the drawing and the correct positioning of the frame, the drawing is as it were projected into the current landscape. In this way, a special event or a former structure that stood at a specific location can come back to life for a while. Via the vista panels, we make the special history and unique story of Northeast Polder more visible.
Kuinre is in Overijssel and used to be a lively…
See-through panels are corten steel frames with a transparent plate. On that plate, a drawing visualises an object/activity that is not (or no longer) visible in the landscape. Through the correct perspective of the drawing and the correct positioning of the frame, the drawing is as it were projected into the current landscape. In this way, a special event or a former structure that stood at a specific location can come back to life for a while. Via the vista panels, we make the special history and unique story of Northeast Polder more visible.
Kuinre is in Overijssel and used to be a lively port town on the busy sailing Zuiderzee. Just across the border, in what is now the Noordoostpolder in Flevoland, the remains of two successive castles have been found, collectively referred to as the Burchten van Kuinre or also simply Kuinderburcht.
From their fortress, the Lords of Kuinre controlled the trade routes that ran via the IJssel, the Vecht and the Kuinder in the Middle Ages. When collecting tolls did not yield enough revenue, they turned to raiding ships. The Lords sometimes seized the merchants' cargo or ship. In exchange for ransom, they could then get their property back.
The second castle was discovered in 1951 using aerial photographs taken by the RAF during World War II. The remains were never made visible in the landscape because the site had already been given an agricultural use by 1951. However, objects such as weapons, pots, cups and an almost complete slate sundial were found. Because of their cultural-historical and scientific values, the remains of the two castles were listed as archaeological monuments in the national monument register in 1978.
During the reclamation of the Northeast Polder, a large amount of brick rubble and a pile foundation were found during excavation work in 1941-1942. Research showed that these were the foundations of a castle from the early Middle Ages, a ‘motte castle’, or a round castle on an artificial hill surrounded by a ring-shaped moat.
Via the Kuinderburcht vista panel, despite the lack of extensive excavations, you can still get an impression of what castles used to look like. You will find the Kuinderburcht vista panel on De Heuvel in the Kuinder forest. If you stand right in front of the viewing panel, you can see Kuinderburcht at the bottom of De Heuvel in the landscape.
