Minister Diependaele protects the ‘Disappeared Zwinhavens’

Flanders protects important archaeological sites in order to preserve them for future generations. Sites such as the Zwinhavens are invaluable to our knowledge of the human past. We must cherish them and treat them as gently as possible. We do this in the first place by storing them in the soil. That is why both Zwinhavens are protected as archaeological sites,” says Flemish minister Matthias Diependaele.

Economic and cultural boom

The channel around which the Zwin nature center is built today is the last remnant of a tidal channel that functioned as an artery of international trade in the Middle Ages. The Zwingeul formed an elongated port system along which goods, people and thoughts enter and export Flanders. This resulted in cultural and economic growth in the region around Bruges.

After 1500 the economic heyday of Bruges and its outer ports were over and the medieval port complex silted up. What remains are a series of disappeared harbor sites, hidden in today’s polder landscape.

New research technologies

In recent years, research by Ghent University has shown that a combination of traditional and new research techniques can be used to map the medieval outer harbors in detail and to gain valuable new information.

The research results of the University of Ghent prompted the Immovable Heritage Agency to investigate whether the disappeared Zwinhavens Hoeke and Monnikerede also qualify for protection as an archaeological site. “Sites such as the Zwinhavens Monnikerede and Hoeke are invaluable for our knowledge of our Flemish history,” says Minister Diependaele.