Template:Infobox Dutch municipality 3
Lelystad is a municipality and a city located in the centre of the Netherlands, and it is the capital of the province of Flevoland. The city, built on reclaimed land, was founded in 1951 and was named after Cornelis Lely, who engineered the Afsluitdijk, making the reclaiming possible. Lelystad lies approximately 5 meters (16 feet) below sealevel.
Lelystad is area-wise the largest municipality in the Netherlands. A big part of that area is water: Markermeer and IJsselmeer which offer nice views from the dikes. Another major area is the internationally famous nature park Oostvaardersplassen, which spontaneously grew when the polder of South Flevoland was drained. Lelystad is also surrounded by "a square of woodlands and parks" and agriculturally used planes. The geographical location of the city makes wheather & skies especially beautiful. The importance of the landscape & sky is emphasized by several interesting pieces of land art: engineerswork & sophisticated arts like the "Observatorium" by Robert Morris.
Lelystad has several interesting tourist attractions like:
- The replica of the 17th-century ship Batavia at the Batavia Ship building yard.
- Batavia Stad outlet shopping center
- Nature Park Lelystad
The Hanzelijn project is a planned railway line Lelystad-Dronten-Kampen and upgrading of the stretch Kampen-Zwolle. Other plans for the near future include the development of the coastal area (Lelystad borders both the Markermeer and the IJsselmeer) for touristic and commercial purposes.
History
After World War II the Zuiderzee Works continued by making the polder of Eastern Flevoland. In 1950 work commenced on several construction-islands in the middle of the IJsselmeer. Lelystad-Haven was the largest island, and it´s wooden barracks housed a community of dike-builders. In 1955 they reached the main land, which made it possible to drive to Lelystad by car. One of the three pumping stations which drained the polder in June 1957 was the diesel powered Wortman in Lelystad-Haven. Untill 1967 the only inhabitants of Lelystad were technical engineers, workmen and superintendents, living on the former construction-island.
External links
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