From Lauwerszee to Lauwersmeer

Until 1969, salt water gushed here through gullies and gullies. Half a century later, the Lauwersmeer area is a beautiful National Park. While that was not the reason for closing the Lauwerszee, the spectacular result more than made up for the difficult decision to tame the sea.

The effects of ebb and flow used to work all the way through the Reitdiep into the city of Groningen. Usually not a problem, but sometimes this led to floods. As early as 1600, there were plans to close off the lake. However, the much money earned from shipping was too high a threshold. Things went wrong again, this time during the Christmas flood of 1717 in which hundreds of people died. In response, the Dokkumerdiep was closed with a lock, the Dokkumer Nieuwe Zijlen. The next stap in taming the sea was the closure of the Reitdiep at Zoutkamp. Since then, it was over with ebb and flow in the city of Groningen.

The sea hit back hard and not without consequences. After the 1953 storm surge disaster in Zeeland, the decision to seal off the Lauwerszee took shape. A huge intervention. Thus, the closure would mean the end of the bustling fishing village of Zoutkamp. When Queen Juliana visited the village in 1969, the flag even hung at half-mast. But Groningen is resilient. Zoutkamp soon became a colourful attraction for tourists. Meanwhile, nature was able to take its course almost everywhere. With very little human intervention, a beautiful nature area with special birds and plants was created in no time. Wild konik horses and Scottish highlanders even live around the lake. Come and see for yourself what fresh water can do to the bottom of the sea.