Editing Heusden (section)

=== Fortifications and restoration ===
[[File:Map of Heusden, North Brabant (around 1710).tiff|thumb|Map of Heusden ({{circa|1710}})]]
At the beginning of the [[Eighty Years' War]] (1568–1648), Heusden was occupied by the Spanish. In 1577, however, following the [[Pacification of Ghent]], the people of Heusden allied with William, [[Prince of Orange]]. William consolidated the town's strategic position near the river Meuse, and ordered fortification works to be constructed. Work started in 1579 with the digging of [[moats]] and the construction of [[bastions]], walls, and [[ravelins]], and was completed in 1597.

By the early nineteenth century, the defence works fell into disrepair and were dismantled. In 1968, however, extensive restoration works started, and fortifications were carefully rebuilt, based on and inspired by a 1649 map of the city of Heusden by [[Johannes Blaeu]], son of the famous Dutch cartographer [[Willem Blaeu]]. In 1980, the city of Heusden received the European [[Urbes Nostrae]] restoration prize. Heusden currently draws over 350 thousand tourists every year who visit the historic town centre and walk the walls that once made it a formidable stronghold.