PUBLICATIONS

A number of species on our planet go into hibernation, an extreme form of retreat. Without a hint of spirituality, these animals withdraw for a number of months to inaccessible places. Well hidden from predators or people. This familiar fact becomes interesting when this natural need interfaces with our built environment. What are the choices then? At a place like Fort Asperen it is certainly an issue. A number of bat species hibernate here, including some rare ones. In a fort abandoned long ago when it lost its function, these small creatures of the night have found the perfect ‘cave’ in which to safely withdraw. But cultural interest in this kind of building has grown considerably in recent years.

In many places the forts and defences associated with the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie have been restored and assigned another function. Leisure and tourism often play a prominent role in this respect. But this fort distinguishes itself rather thrillingly from the rest: not only has it acquired protected status as a listed building, it also provides temporary winter accommodation for protected species. Both these aspects of the fort are the result of our irrepressible urge to expand. Unusual, exceptional things have to be protected from this urge. Yet now changes have to come, precisely in this abandoned place, where past decades have produced a symbiosis between artefact and nature. It is an interesting dilemma. Fort or bats? Or both?