Fort Pampus is a historic fort located on Pampus Island in the IJmeer, near Amsterdam. Built between 1887 and 1895, it was part of the Stelling van Amsterdam, a 135-kilometer-long ring of 42 defensive fortifications encircling Amsterdam. The Stelling was designed to protect the city by flooding surrounding areas in times of threat, using an intricate system of sluices and canals.

Fort Pampus was strategically positioned to guard the entrance to the then Zuiderzee, ensuring control over access to Amsterdam’s harbor. The fort’s name, “Pampus,” originates from a nearby shallow sandbank that posed navigational challenges for ships in earlier centuries. The fort was armed with four Krupp 24 cm guns deployed in two cupolas of two guns each.

Fort Pampus never saw action and the completion of the Afsluitdijk in 1932 cut the IJsselmeer off from the open sea. The fort lost its strategic role and the military abandoned it in 1933.