The Southern Waterline (Zuiderwaterlinie) is a defence landscape with fortresses, fortified cities, bunkers, inundation areas from Bergen op Zoom to Grave in the Netherlands. The article starts with a brief overview of its construction since the fifteenth century.

The second part of the article deals with the three major approaches in heritage management nowadays. These are restoring and reconstructing the built objects, reusing and transforming the ensemble for future use, and revitalising and visualising the narratives.