The Ringvaart (known in full as Ringvaart of the Haarlemmermeer Polder) is a canal in the province of

North Holland North Holland (, ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht (province), Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevola ...

, the Netherlands. The Ringvaart (

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

meaning "ring canal") is a true circular canal surrounding the

Haarlemmermeer Haarlemmermeer () is a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. Haarlemmermeer is a polder, consisting of land reclaimed from water. The ...

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

and forms the boundary of the Haarlemmermeer municipality. Ringvaart is also the name of the dike bordering the canal. Construction of the canal began in 1839 as the first step to reclaim land from Haarlemmermeer (Dutch for Haarlem's Lake). Thousands of laborers dug a canal through the existing land, as much as possible closely following the lake's contour. But at three locations (Vijfhuizen, Lisserbroek, and Huigsloot), the Ringvaart was dug through

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

s which thereafter became part of Haarlemmermeer. In 1845, the canal was completed and the lake could be drained, using the Ringvaart to drain the excess waters. The canal is 61 kilometres (38 mi) long, and 2.4 metres (8 ft) deep. It encloses an area of more than 180 square kilometres (70 sq mi). The removed earth was used to build a ring dike from 30 to 50 metres (30 to 54 yd) wide around the polder. The Ringvaart is used for commercial and recreational boat traffic. A portion of it forms part of the sailroute from

Hollands Diep The Hollands Diep ( pre-1947 spelling: Hollandsch Diep) is a river in the Netherlands, and an estuary of the Rhine and Meuse rivers. Through the Scheldt-Rhine Canal it connects to the Scheldt river and Antwerp. The Bergse Maas river and the N ...

to the

IJsselmeer The IJsselmeer (; , ), also known as Lake IJssel in English, is a closed-off freshwater lake in the central Netherlands bordering the Provinces of the Netherlands, provinces of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland. It covers an area of with a ...

, passable for ships with masts over 6 meters (20 ft) tall. Near

Roelofarendsveen Roelofarendsveen () is a town in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the municipality of Kaag en Braassem, South Holland, about 10 km east of Leiden. History The village was first mentioned in 1575 as "Roelifaerts Veen", and means ...

, the Ringvaart crosses the A4 Highway by means of a

navigable aqueduct Navigable aqueducts (sometimes called navigable water bridges) are bridge structures that carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railways or roads. They are primarily distinguished by their size, carrying a larger cross-se ...

. It was built in 1961, making it the oldest aqueduct in the Netherlands. In 2006, construction was completed of two new portions: on the east side for crossing new north-bound lanes for the expanded highway; and on the west side for the new

HSL-Zuid The HSL-Zuid (, ), is a 125 kilometre-long (78 mile) High-speed rail in the Netherlands, Dutch high-speed rail line running between the Amsterdam metropolitan area and the Belgium–Netherlands border, Belgian border, with a branch to Breda, ...

high-speed railway. The new aqueduct is 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi) long.

World Heritage Site

The Pump House Cruquius, which was used to drain the lake, is a Dutch ''

Rijksmonument A (, ) is a national heritage site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. At the end of February 2015, the Netherlands had 61,822 l ...

'' for the history of the

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was f ...

steam engine within. The Ringvaart, the Cruquius Pump House, the dike itself, and various other components such as aqueducts, bridges and defense bunkers located south of the dike of the

Stelling van Amsterdam The ' (; "Defence Line of Amsterdam") is a fortification line around Amsterdam, which would function as a national redoubt. It comprises 45 forts, as well as dams, dikes, locks, pumping stations, batteries and casemates. The forts are from th ...

(Defense line of Amsterdam) are considered a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. The main dike of the Stelling van Amsterdam runs diagonally across the Haarlemmermeer polder and crosses the Ringvaart twice.

Fort Vijfhuizen Fort Vijfhuizen is one of forty-two forts in the Stelling van Amsterdam, Defense Line of Amsterdam (Dutch: ''stelling van Amsterdam''), a World Heritage Site. It is located in the town of Vijfhuizen on the ''ringvaart'' which surrounds the Haarle ...

located on the Ringvaart is used for art exhibitions.

External links

Construction of new aqueductsCruiquius Museum official website
{{coord, 52.2316, 4.555, display=title Canals in the Netherlands Canals in North Holland Canal rings Haarlemmermeer Dutch words and phrases Canals opened in 1845

World Heritage Site

See also

External links