In between the houses on the Waalkade in Nijmegen, stand an oddly shaped building. When they demolished some houses in 1987, they found the foundations of one of the city wall’s defense structures: the bastion. It was built around the time cannons were invented and tall towers became an easy target. So this 16th century newer structure, the bastion, is lower and heavier. With its semicircular shape, like a horse shoe, it was designed to defend from all angles, trying to limit the blind corners. Cannons would move around the structure and could use the small windows to shoot at the enemies. This structure is now part of a museum.
When you enter, you first step even further back in time. The exhibition has exposed some remnants of the Roman occupation in the 2nd to 4th centuries. There are pieces of old walls that used to belong to the trading center that was located right here on the river. They’ve also exposed an old well, that belonged to the previous tower, the Heezetoren, from the 13th century. The well ensured that soldiers would always have fresh drinking water, even under attack. One hundred years later some big houses were built here, which left traces of their cellars. You can walk on a floor that was laid 700 years ago.
And then came the bastion. The structure is now used to explain how it worked and has some floors with other exhibitions. For example, you walk along the Chemin de ronde, or the cannon hall. There are rings in the curved ceiling that would help the soldiers move the cannons around. The city was too poor to have a cannon at each loophole, so they had to be inventive. It took 10 men to operate the big cannons. They were paid per shot, after the fact. Later buildings were simply built on top of the bastion. The occupants would use some the hallways for storage, while other parts were filled with sand.
One floor of the museum shows what was already here before the Romans arrived. There’s a preserved oak tree of 8400 years old and even a big mammoth skull. You can pick up part of the femur bone and one of its teeth to see what they’re like. You can also see the creatures that still move around the forests and wetlands around the city. Bevers and otters were reintroduced successfully. Another very interesting thing to learn about is the Holländerflöße or Dutch floats. These were huge floats made of tree trunks that were being transported from the Black Forest. In this case the ship was actually constructed from the load. They would be completely disassembled when they reached the Netherlands and all pieces would be sold. The floats became semi-controllable villages that were taken downstream by the current.
So besides the function of the building, de Bastei shows you the culture, the wildlife, the good and bad that are brought by the river. When I was there it had been raining a lot and the water level was pretty high. Not enough to be a threat yet, but enough to impress. You can take a look at the Waal from the café terrace or the glass bay window that sticks out of the old stones. In the days of the 13th century tower this was the place where the guards would look out to see if any enemies were approaching. Now you can look out for all the cargo and container ships that pass by.
