Every design for Ijmuiden

IJmuiden straddles the mouth of the North Sea Canal, with its great sea locks between the town and the open water, the plant-covered dunes of the Zuid-Kennemerland National Park to the south and a steelworks across the canal to the north.

The feeling here is of a town that was born with a purpose. Before it existed, the area was Breesaap, a bleak plain where a few farming families scraped a living. Then on 1 November 1876 the canal opened, William III sailed through the locks and named the place IJmuiden, mouth of the IJ. The men who had dug the canal stayed on, many of them poor, and found work in fishing. IJmuiden became the largest fishing port in the Netherlands, a harbour town through and through.

The statue De Kanaalgravers honours those diggers, and the Vissersmonument the fishermen who followed. The IJmuider Zee- en Havenmuseum, Fort bij IJmuiden and the Hoogovens Museum each tell their part of the story. For anyone who grew up here, the map brings back the smell of the fish auction, the ships sliding through the locks, and the walk through the dunes to the beach.