Cornelis Lely (; 23 September 1854 – 22 January 1929) was a Dutch politician of the Liberal Union (LU) and civil engineer. He oversaw the passage of an act of parliament authorising construction of the

Zuiderzee Works The Zuiderzee Works ( nl, Zuiderzeewerken) is a man-made system of dams and dikes, land reclamation and water drainage work, in total the largest hydraulic engineering project undertaken by the Netherlands during the twentieth century. The proj ...

, a huge project – designed to his own plans – that turned the Zuiderzee into a lake and made possible the conversion of a vast area of former seabed into dry land.

Early life

Cornelis Lely was born on 23 September 1854 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, son of an oilseed trader. Lely went to the Hogere Burgerschool (HBS). He later studied at the

Polytechnic School Polytechnic School, often referred to simply as Poly, is a college preparatory private day school located in Pasadena, California with approximately 850 students enrolled in grades Kindergarten through 12. The school is a former member of the ...

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

and graduated as

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

in 1875.

Career outline

Between 1886 and 1891, Lely led the technical research team that explored the possibility, later approved by a State Commission, of enclosing the

Zuiderzee The Zuiderzee or Zuider Zee (; old spelling ''Zuyderzee'' or ''Zuyder Zee'') was a shallow bay of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands, extending about 100 km (60 miles) inland and at most 50 km (30 miles) wide, with an o ...

. The Dutch parliament passed the law creating the

on 14 June 1918, using Lely's plan. He served three times as Minister of Transport and Water Management (in 1891–1894, 1897–1901, and 1913–1918) and in this role was hugely influential in advocating the implementation of his own plans. The scheme was finally approved and realised after severe flooding along the shores of the Zuiderzee in 1916. In 1898 as minister he implemented a law on local railroads and tramways, which played a significant role in the development of the Dutch countryside. In 1895 Lely became member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

. Lely was

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of Surinam from 1902 to 1905. In Surinam he achieved the initiation and construction of the

Lawa Railway The Lawa Railway (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Lawaspoorweg'' or later ''Landsspoorweg'') was a single-track metre gauge railway in Suriname. It was built during the gold rush in the early 20th century, from the harbour town Paramaribo to Dam at the ...

(from Paramaribo to Benzdorp).

Remembrance

The city of

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 Afsluitdi ...

, situated in the Eastern Flevoland

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or the seabed # Flood plains s ...

and capital of

Flevoland Flevoland () is the twelfth and youngest province of the Netherlands, established in 1986, when the southern and eastern Flevopolders, together with the Noordoostpolder, were merged into one provincial entity. It is in the centre of the countr ...

province, was named after him. The flags of the province and of the city are both adorned with a white

fleur-de-lys The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol. The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...

to note his contribution. In the city of

"Cornelis Lelylaan", a major thoroughfare, is named after him and

Amsterdam Lelylaan Amsterdam Lelylaan is a railway, metro, tram and bus 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 ...

, one of the city's main railway stations, is sited on this road. In 1905, the Surinamese village of Kofi Djompo was renamed

Lelydorp Lelydorp is the capital city of Wanica District, located in Suriname. With a population of 18,663 (2012), it is the second largest city in Suriname, after Paramaribo. History Pad van Wanica For centuries the Pad van Wanica (path of Wanica) has ...

in his honour; Lely having led the construction of a new railway from Paramaribo that ran through the area. Most of the railway has now gone, but Lelydorp survives and is now the capital of

Wanica District Wanica is a district of Suriname located in the north of the country. Wanica's capital city is Lelydorp, the second-largest city in Suriname. Wanica has a population of 118,222 and an area of 443 km2. Following neighbouring Paramaribo, Wani ...

. It lies on the road from

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...

Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport , also known as Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport, and locally referred to simply as JAP, is an airport located in the town of Zanderij and hub for airline carrier Surinam Airways, south of Param ...

. A

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...

of Lely stands on the western point of the

Afsluitdijk The ''Afsluitdijk'' (; fry, Ofslútdyk; nds-nl, Ofsluutdiek; en, "Closure Dyke") is a major dam and causeway in the Netherlands. It was constructed between 1927 and 1932 and runs from Den Oever in North Holland province to the village of ...

. It was sculpted by

Mari Andriessen Mari Silverster Andriessen (4 December 1897 – 7 December 1979) was a Dutch sculptor, best known for his work memorializing victims of the Holocaust. Born and died in Haarlem, Andriessen is buried at the RK Begraafplaats Sint Adelberts in B ...

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 tower of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

blocks, designed by . In Lelystad's city hall is a statue of Lely made by

Piet Esser Vincent Pieter Semeyn Esser known as Piet Esser (9 March 1914, BaarnJ. F. Staal, ''Grote Winkler Prins: Encyclopedie in twintig delen, Volume 17'', 7th ed, Elsevier, 1966, , p. 274 (in Dutch). – 19 November 2004) was a Dutch sculptor. Biogra ...

Decorations

Honorary degrees

References

External links

* *
Dr. C. Lely
Parlement & Politiek *
Dr. C. Lely (liberaal)
Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lely, Cornelis 1854 births 1929 deaths Canal engineers Commanders of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Delft University of Technology alumni Dutch civil engineers Dutch technology writers Environmental engineers Governors of Suriname Hydraulic engineers Irrigation engineers Liberal State Party politicians Liberal Union (Netherlands) politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Members of the Provincial Council of South Holland Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the Senate (Netherlands) Ministers of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands Ministers of Transport and Water Management of the Netherlands Municipal councillors of The Hague Politicians from Amsterdam Technical writers Viaduct engineers Water resource management in the Netherlands Zuiderzee Works 19th-century Dutch civil servants 19th-century Dutch engineers 19th-century Dutch male writers 19th-century Dutch politicians 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch engineers 20th-century Dutch male writers 20th-century Dutch politicians Engineers from Amsterdam