Radio Kootwijk
Radio Kootwijk is a radio facility built in 1918 in order to keep Holland in contact with its colony of the Dutch East Indies. The housing facilties needed for its employees resulted in a small village sharing the same name.
Radio Kootwijk is situated at the Veluwe which was, at the time that the complex was built, an area with a low population density, making it ideal for such a radio facility. In order to improve the efficiency of the transmitter, a large area of the heather and forrest around the complex was flattened.
In 1923 the Dutch PTT (Post, Telegrafie en Telefonie) started a transoceanic telegraphy connection, using a longwave transmitter which was situated in Building A. This large concrete building, designed by Joris Luthman, was inspired by an Egyptian Sphynx, but it was later nicknamed “The Cathedral” (at the time, this caused some consternation with the rather religious locals).
In 1925 the longwave transmitter was replaced by a shortwave version and in 1928 a radio-telephonic connection was established between Holland and the Dutch East Indies. At the time a three minute phonecall would cost about 30 Dutch guilders (12-15 euros).
With the arrival of new communication techniques like satellites, Radio Kootwijk lost its of role wireless connection point and in 1980 the last transmission mast was blown up.
“The Cathedral”or Building A is now an official monument.
There you are!
Tiengemeten
The island of Tiengemeten lies in the Haringvliet river, which is part of the extensive delta area located in the southwest of Holland, 30 km south of Rotterdam. It is reachable only by ferry and no cars are allowed on the island.
Getting to the origines of the name “Tiengemeten” is a question of doing some very basic calculus combined with some very old fashioned grammar. In the 17th century the island started out as a small sandy island of roughly 12 acres (5 hectare). In the old days, one “gemet” was refered to an area of about 1.2 acres/0.5 hectare. So, you need ten “gemeten” to get to 12 acres/5 hectare, hence the name Tiengemeten. Since the 17th century it has expaned from 12 acres to about 2200 acres (900 hectares).
Tiengemeten is a so called delta island, which makes it quite unique in both geography and wildlife. The different areas on the island continuously shift from land to water and vice versa, making the island change shape constantly and attracting a wide variety of aquatic birds and animals. Because of these unique features the Dutch government decided to turn it into natural reserve in the late 1980′s. The few farmers and inhabitant that lived on the island voluntarily moved to the mainland leaving their empty farms and houses behind. Tiengemeten is now a place where nature take its course and it provides a quiet place for walking, cycling and bird watching. I mainly went there to experience the total silence and wide empty views, which are quite an interesting thing to find within one of the worlds’ most densely populated areas.