It is more than 100 years since the huge job of the Zuiderzee works began. The Netherlands, after the flood disaster of 1916, realized that something had to be done. Engineer Lely had hammered on this for years, but it first had to go wrong for others to realize that it was time to intervene. A monster job that surprised the world started.
“The Afsluitdijk is close to us and we wanted to tell this story. Lely was an appealing figure. He had a dream, but had to fight against opinions. It was all too expensive, they thought. It didn’t have to be,” says Els van der Klein of the Cultural Circle Wieringen.
A century of Zuiderzee Works
Wieringen was connected to the mainland by the Zuiderzee Works and was therefore the island. It became an important place for the construction of the Afsluitdijk and the motto will be expanded in the coming years: ‘Zuiderzee Works. Already 100 years, even 100 years’. The makers themselves realized that the story deserves attention.
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