The little fortified town of Willemstad is situated near the point where the Hollandsdiep divides into two arms, between which lies the island of Goeree-Overflakkee. William the Silent gave orders in 1583 for the construction of this star-shaped fortress with its seven bastions, two gates and regular street layout; the builder was Adriaen Anthonisz. After William's murder in 1584 his son Maurice named the town Willemstad in his honor.
The former Town Hall (1587; rebuilt 1620) at Raadhuisstraat 2 now houses the Ceramic Museum (Ceramisch Museum), with pottery and other wares (17th-20th centuries) recovered by excavation.
The Prinsenhof or Mauritshuis, built in 1623 as a hunting lodge for Stadholder Maurice (Maurits) of Nassau, is now the Town Hall. Around it is a herb garden, the Kruidentuin.
Willemstad's octagonal Reformed church was the first church in the Netherlands to be built for a Protestant congregation (1596-1607). The original furnishings had to be replaced when the interior of the church was destroyed by fire in 1950. The pulpit came from a church at Hoogvliet (1659), the choir-stalls (1670) from a church in Graft.
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