Vereniging tot Behoud van Natuurmonumenten in Nederland ( en, Society for Preservation of Nature Monuments in the Netherlands), also known as Vereniging Natuurmonumenten, is a Dutch
nature conservation organization founded in 1905 by
Jacobus Pieter Thijsse and
Eli Heimans, that buys, protects, and manages nature reserves in the Netherlands. It is a member of the
European Environmental Bureau.
The first area that the organization purchased in 1905 was to protect the Naardermeer, southeast of
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
. It had 355 sites under its management in 2010, with a total area of . The largest is De Wieden (); the smallest is Fort Ellewoutsdijk ().
The organization also owns 1,700 buildings, of which 250 were provincial or national monuments. In 2013, the organization had 735,000 members and was headquartered in
's-Graveland
s-Graveland is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Wijdemeren, and lies about 4 km northwest of Hilversum.
The former municipality of 's-Graveland merged with Loosdrecht and Nederhorst den ...
.
The organization was awarded the
Gouden Ganzenveer
The Gouden Ganzenveer ("Golden goose quill") is a Dutch cultural award initiated in 1955, given annually to a person or organization of great significance to the written and printed word. Recipients are selected by an academy of people from the cul ...
in 1986.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
1905 establishments in the Netherlands
Environmental organisations based in the Netherlands
Environmental organizations established in 1905
Nature conservation organisations based in Europe