What we know
The water tower in Axel was built in 1936, the first water tower in Zeelandic Flanders. It was commissioned by NV Waterleiding Maatschappij Zeeuwsch-Vlaanderen and designed by architect C. van Eck from Terneuzen. It officially opened in January 1937. At 60.6 metres it is one of the tallest water towers in the Netherlands.
The water came from the catchment area and pumping station near Sint-Jansteen. At the top of the tower are three water tanks: one supplied Axel, the other two the rest of Zeelandic Flanders. In the base is a clean-water cellar for extra storage. Until 1942 this tower supplied water to all of Zeelandic Flanders; that year a second water tower was built in Oostburg.
In the 1990s the tower was taken out of service. The municipality of Axel bought it, and it has been a national monument since 1997. It has been preserved in its original state and can be climbed: along the pipes to the first water tank at about thirty metres, and on up to a height of fifty metres.
What we are still researching
A water tower makes visible a technology that usually stays out of sight. For this tower we want to know:
- Why was the tower built right here?
- How did people get water before the tower existed?
- What changed in daily life once the water arrived?
- Which traces of that history can still be seen today?
To answer these questions we are searching the Zeeuws Archief, its image bank and old newspapers, and looking for people who know the tower and its surroundings. Do you have memories, photos or documents? Let us know.
Why this place
The tower has a sound of its own. In 2024 a choir performed Project Overtone there, a piece Celia Swart composed on the basis of Bouke Groen’s acoustic measurements of the tower’s spaces. Philou Louzolo played a set there for Echo of Time. The set is a way in; this story takes you deeper.
