Pyramid of Austerlitz
The Pyramid of Austerlitz was built by Napoleonic soldiers on one of the highest elevations in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug in the Netherlands . Although it is in the area of the municipality of Woudenberg , it is considered the landmark of the Zeister district of Austerlitz .
history
In 1804 , the French General Auguste de Marmont set up an army camp on this centrally located place in the Netherlands . Here he brought together a powerful army within a few months to drive out the British troops if they wanted to repeat the attack of 1799. Satisfied with the strength of his new army, he had the soldiers build this monument out of sand and earth in the autumn of 1804. Inspired by the pyramids at Giza , which Marmont saw during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign , it became a pyramid. It took 29 days to build, and a 13-meter-high wooden obelisk was erected on top of the 36-meter-high pyramid . The inhabitants of this area called the hill Marmontberg . In 1805 Marmont moved with his troops to Germany and took part in the coalition war that ended in the Battle of Austerlitz . A short time later, the new King Ludwig Napoleon gave the Marmontberg the name Pyramid von Austerlitz.
In 1894, the then owner and mayor of Woudenberg gave the order to replace the wooden obelisk with a stone one.
restoration
For the 200th anniversary, the already badly dilapidated pyramid was restored from December 2001 to 2004. This was done on the initiative of the province of Utrecht , the Den Treek-Henschoten estate and the municipality of Woudenberg, who had come together to form a foundation. In March 2004 it seemed that the work would not last long because the turf did not grow - a consequence of the dry summer of 2003. In the meantime, over a million euros had been spent on the restoration and the foundation had no more money for further work . The memorial service was canceled in September 2004. On February 5, 2005, the Utrecht Provincial Government approved additional funds to complete the restoration work. At the commemoration on October 12, 2007, a memorial stone was unveiled and a visitor center on the French period was opened. On that day the pyramid was exactly 203 years old.
See also
Web links
- Pyramid of Austerlitz Foundation ( Memento from August 9, 2002 in the Internet Archive )
Coordinates: 52 ° 5 ′ 25 ″ N , 5 ° 20 ′ 33 ″ E