Cornelis Lely was a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 civil engineer

Civil engineer

A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...

 and statesman. He first designed and then realised by a law the Zuiderzee Works

Zuiderzee Works

The Zuiderzee Works are a manmade system of dams, land reclamation and water drainage works, the largest hydraulic engineering project undertaken by the Netherlands during the twentieth century. The project involved the damming of the Zuiderzee, a large, shallow inlet of the North Sea, and the...

, a major project that turned the Zuiderzee into a lake, and converting a huge area into dry land.

Career outline

From 1886 to 1891, Lely led the technical research team that explored the possibility of enclosing the Zuiderzee, which was approved by a State Commission. Lely was Minister of Transport and Water three times (1891-1894, 1897-1901, and 1913-1918) and exerted large influence in this function towards the implementation of his own plans. His plans were finally approved and executed after severe floodings along the Zuiderzee in 1916

Floods in the Netherlands

This is a chronological list of floods that have occurred in the Netherlands, until 1500 most parts of the Netherlands were in Frisia.*838 December 26: A large part of the northwest of the Netherlands was flooded by a storm. Lack of good dikes was an important cause of this flood disaster...

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Remembrance

The city Lelystad

Lelystad

Lelystad is a municipality and a city 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 1967 and was named after Cornelis Lely, who engineered the Afsluitdijk, making the reclamation possible...

, in the polder

Polder

A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity, meaning it has no connection with outside water other than through manually-operated devices...

 Eastern Flevoland and capital of the province of Flevoland

Flevoland

Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. Located in the centre of the country, at the location of the former Zuiderzee, the province was established on January 1, 1986; the twelfth province of the country, with Lelystad as its capital...

, was named after him. The flags of the province

Flag of Flevoland

The flag of Flevoland was adopted on January 9, 1986.-Description:The flag is tierced in fess azure, or and vert.The flag recalls how the new province was reclaimed from the IJsselmeer. The central yellow stripe, wavy then straight, symbolises the transformation of the sea into land. Its colour...

 and of the city are both adorned with a white fleur-de-lys to note his contribution.

In the city of Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 a major road is named "Cornelis Lelylaan" after him, and Amsterdam Lelylaan railway station

Amsterdam Lelylaan railway station

Amsterdam Lelylaan is a railway station in west Amsterdam. It is served by trains of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen and metros of the GVB. The station opened on 1 June 1986. It is located on the Amsterdam-Schiphol railway, a few km south of Amsterdam Sloterdijk railway station...

, one of the main railway stations, is on this road.

In Suriname

Suriname

Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...

, where Lely was Governor-General of Suriname from 1902-1905, the village Kofi Djompo was renamed Lelydorp

Lelydorp

Lelydorp is the capital city of Wanica District, located in Suriname. With a population of 15,576 , it is the second city in Suriname, after Paramaribo. It is located at around ....

 by Lely; Lely led the construction of a new railway from Paramaribo that ran through Lelydorp. Most of the railway has gone, but Lelydorp survived and is now the capital of Wanica District

Wanica District

Wanica is a district of Suriname, in the northeast. Wanica's capital city is Lelydorp.Wanica has a population of near 76,320 and an area of 444 km²...

. It lies on the road from Paramaribo

Paramaribo

Paramaribo is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 250,000 people, more than half of Suriname's population...

 to Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport

Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport

Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport , also known as Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport, is an airport located in the town of Zanderij, 45 km south of Paramaribo...

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A statue

Statue

A statue is a sculpture in the round representing a person or persons, an animal, an idea or an event, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger...

 of Lely stands on the western point of the Afsluitdijk

Afsluitdijk

The Afsluitdijk is a major causeway in the Netherlands, constructed between 1927 and 1933 and running from Den Oever on Wieringen in North Holland province, to the village of Zurich in Friesland province, over a length of and a width of 90 m, at an initial height of 7.25 m above sea-level.It is...

. It was sculpted by Mari Andriessen

Mari Andriessen

Mari Silverster Andriessen was a Dutch sculptor, best known for his work memorializing victims of the Holocaust...

 and dedicated on 23 September 1954, the 100th anniversary of Lely's birth. A replica of this statue stands in the center of Lelystad, on a 35 metres (114.8 ft) high tower of basalt

Basalt

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

 blocks, designed by Hans van Houwelingen. In Lelystad's city hall is a statue of Lely made by Piet Esser

Piet Esser

Vincent Pieter Semeyn Esser known as Piet Esser was a Dutch sculptor.- Biography :Esser was part of the Dutch "Groep van de figuratieve abstractie"...

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External links

• Info on Lelydorp, Suriname, from travelpost.com