Fort Stabroek

Fort Stabroek lies north of the village of the same name, in the province of Antwerp in the Flemish region in Belgium.

Between 1859 and 1864 the young Belgian Kingdom had equipped the city of Antwerp, which had been chosen to be a National Redoubt in case of war, with a ring of 8 brick forts; Fort 1 until Fort 8. As the forts quickly became outdated, several new forts were added to the ring, between 1870 and 1895, but at a greater distance from the city; amongst them were Fort Steendorp and Fort Walem.

Advances in the development of artillery kept outdating the 19th century forts, however. So, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Belgian government decided to surround Antwerp with yet a second ring of forts at an even greater distance from the city. Building commenced and in 1913, 11 armored forts and 12 armored redoubts, built out of concrete, had been built around the city. They then started arming these new forts, a job which was not yet finished when Belgium was invaded by the Germans in 1914.

Fort Stabroek was built between 1902 and 1907 as the first armored fort of the second ring of forts. It is trapezium-shaped and surrounded by a moat. The fort didn't play any important role during both World Wars but was occupied by German troops during the wars. In 1947 it was demilitarized. In 1955 it was sold to a Mr. A. Callens, a dentist, who used it as a country residence and later as a mushroom farm. It is now being exploited as a commercial venue by his descendants.

At present Fort Stabroek is a venue for events and group activities, like paintballing. So it can be visited but only as a guest of these exploits. The fort island is largely grown over and you cannot walk around it, so you can only see its front. Still, a nice fort.

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