Pyramid of Austerlitz

The Pyramid of Austerlitz is a 36-metre earthen mound topped by an obelisk, perched on one of the highest points of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug ridge. It was heaped up in just 27 days in 1804 by some 18,000 French soldiers of the Batavian Army camped near Zeist under General Auguste de Marmont, who kept his bored troops occupied by having them build a miniature Cheops out of heath soil, inspired by Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. After the Battle of Austerlitz three years later the mound was officially renamed, and in 1894 a stone obelisk was added at the summit. A staircase now climbs to the top, where the viewing platform looks out across the wooded sandy crests of the Heuvelrug as far as Amersfoort.