Amersfoort is a municipality and the second largest city of the province of
UtrechtUtrecht is the smallest province of the Netherlands, and is located in the center of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest...
in central
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
. The city is growing quickly and has a well-preserved medieval core. Amersfoort is one of the largest railway junctions in the country, because of its location on two of the Netherlands' main east-west and north-south rail lines. The town is celebrating its 750th birthday in 2009.
Population centres
The municipality of Amersfoort consists of the following cities, towns, villages and/or districts: Amersfoort,
HooglandHoogland is a village and former free-standing municipality in the province of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Since 1974, Hoogland has been a part of the municipality of Amersfoort; it is located north of the Amersfoort city centre...
,
HooglanderveenHooglanderveen is a village in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is a part of the municipality of Amersfoort, and lies about 4 km northeast of Amersfoort...
, Stoutenburg Noord, Kattenbroek.
History
Hunter gatherersA hunter-gatherer society is one whose primary subsistence method involves the direct procurement of edible plants and animals from the wild, foraging and hunting without significant recourse to the domestication of either...
set up camps in the Amersfoort region in the
MesolithicThe Mesolithic or "Middle Stone Age" was a period in the development of human technology in between the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age. The term was introduced by John Lubbock in his work Pre-historic Times, published in 1865. The term was, however, not much used...
period. Archaeologists have found traces of these camps, such as the remains of hearths, and sometimes microlithic flint objects, to the north of the city.
Remains of settlements in the Amersfoort area from around 1000 BC have been found, but the name Amersfoort, after a ford in the Amer River, today called the
EemThe Eem is a river in the north of the Utrecht Province in the Netherlands with a length of approximately .The river is fed by the Vallei Canal and a number of Veluwe creeks, the most important of which are the Heiligenberger, the Barneveldse and the Lunterse, all of which come together in...
, did not appear until the 11
th century. The city grew around what is now known as the central square, the
Hof, where the Bishops of Utrecht established a court in order to control the "Gelderse vallei" area, and was granted city rights in 1259 by the bishop of Utrecht
Henry I van ViandenHenry or Hendrik van Vianden was a bishop of Utrecht from 1249 to 1267.He was the son of Henry I, Count of Vianden. He was provost at Cologne before he was pushed forward as candidate for the bishopric of Utrecht by the Welfs in their struggle with the Hohenstaufen. Pope Innocent IV then formally...
. A first defensive wall, made out of brick, was finished around 1300. Soon after, the need for enlargement of the city became apparent and around 1380 the construction of a new wall was begun and completed around 1450. The famous
KoppelpoortThe Koppelpoort is a medieval gate in the Dutch town Amersfoort. Constructed around 1425, the Koppelpoort is a sublime example of medieval defensive architecture. It is a combination of a land and water-gate and is part of the second city wall of Amersfoort, which was constructed between 1380 and...
, a combined land and water gate, is part of this second wall. The first wall was demolished and houses were built in its place. Today's
Muurhuizen (wallhouses) Street is at the exact location of the first wall; the fronts of the houses are built on top of the first city wall’s foundations.
The
Onze-Lieve-Vrouwentoren tower (The Tower of
Our LadyAs a general concept, Our Lady may refer to:*Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mary, the mother of Jesus of Nazareth*Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary in Roman Catholic teachings...
) is one of the tallest medieval church towers in the Netherlands at . The construction of the tower and the church was started in 1444. The church was destroyed by an explosion in 1787, but the tower survived, and the layout of the church still can be discerned today through the use of different types of stone in the pavement of the open space that was created. It is now the reference point of the
RD coordinate systemThe geography of the Netherlands is unusual in that much of its land has been reclaimed from the sea and is below sea level, protected by dikes. Another factor that has influenced its physical appearance is that the country is among the most densely populated on earth. It is ranked 15th overall on...
, the coordinate grid used by the Dutch topographical service: the RD coordinates are (155.000, 463.000).
The inner city of Amersfoort has been preserved well since the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
. Apart from the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwetoren, the
KoppelpoortThe Koppelpoort is a medieval gate in the Dutch town Amersfoort. Constructed around 1425, the Koppelpoort is a sublime example of medieval defensive architecture. It is a combination of a land and water-gate and is part of the second city wall of Amersfoort, which was constructed between 1380 and...
, and the
Muurhuizen (Wall-houses), there is also the Sint-Joris church, the canal-system with its bridges, as well as medieval and other old buildings; many are designated as national monuments. In the Middle Ages, Amersfoort was an important centre for the textile industry, and there were a large number of breweries.
In the 18th century the city flourished because of the cultivation of
tobaccoTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines. In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking, chewing, snuffing, or...
, but from about 1800 onwards began to decline. The decline was halted by the establishment of the first railway connection in 1863, and, some years later, by the building of a substantial number of
infantryInfantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of the Combat Arms they are the backbone of armies...
and
cavalryCavalry were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback in combat. Cavalry were historically the second oldest and most mobile of the combat arms...
barracksBarracks are living quarters for personnel on a military post. They are typically very plain and all of the buildings in the housing unit are often uniform structures.-History:...
, which were needed to defend the western cities of the Netherlands. After the 1920s growth stalled again, until in 1970 the national government designated Amersfoort, then numbering some 70,000 inhabitants, as a "growth city". In 2009 the population stands at 140,000 plus, with an expected 150,000 by 2012.
Second World War
Since Amersfoort was the largest garrison town in the Netherlands before the outbreak of the
Second World WarWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, with eight barracks, the whole population of then 43,000 was evacuated ahead of the expected invasion by the Germans in May 1940. After four days of battle, the population was allowed to return.
There was a functioning Jewish community in the town, at the beginning of the war numbering about 700 people. Half of them were deported and killed, mainly in Auschwitz and
SobiborSobibor was a Nazi German extermination camp set up in the Lublin region of occupied Poland as part of Operation Reinhard; the official German name was SS-Sonderkommando Sobibor. Jews, including Jewish Soviet prisoners of war , and possibly Gypsies were transported to Sobibor by rail, and...
. In 1943, the
synagogueA synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer....
, dating from 1727, was severely damaged on the orders of the then Nazi-controlled city government. It was restored and opened again after the war, and has been served since by a succession of
rabbiRabbi is the term in Judaism for a religious teacher. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ‘great’ in many senses, including "revered." The word comes from the Semitic root R-B-B, and is cognate to Arabic ربّ rabb, meaning "lord" Rabbi , better known as
Kamp AmersfoortAmersfoort concentration camp was a Nazi concentration camp in Amersfoort in the Netherlands. The official name was "Polizeiliches Durchgangslager Amersfoort", P.D.A. or Police Transitcamp Amersfoort. During the years of 1941 to 1945, over 35,000 prisoners were kept here...
, was actually located in the neighbouring municipality of
LeusdenLeusden is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. It is located about 3 kilometres southeast of Amersfoort....
. After the war the leader of the camp, Joseph Kotälla, was sentenced to death.
Origin of Keistad (Boulder-city)
The nickname for Amersfoort,
Keistad (boulder-city), originates in the
Amersfoortse Kei, a
boulderIn geology, a boulder is a rock with grain size of usually no less than 256 mm diameter. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive....
that was dragged from the Soest moors into the city in 1661 by 400 people because of a bet between two landowners. The people got their reward when the winner bought everyone
beerBeer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal grains—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize , and rice are widely...
and pretzels. Other nearby towns then nicknamed the people of Amersfoort
Keientrekker (boulder-dragger/puller). This story embarrassed the inhabitants, and they buried the boulder in the city in 1672, but after it was found again in 1903 it was placed in a prominent spot as a monument.
Museums
- The Mondriaan House
The Mondriaan House is a museum in Amersfoort, the Netherlands, in the house where Piet Mondriaan was born in 1872. The museum lies in the historical centre of Amersfoort. The building of the Christian primary school, where the father of Mondriaan was headmaster, has also been incorporated in the...
: birthplace of the painter Piet Mondriaan. Exhibits a lifesize reconstruction of his workshop in Paris. Some temporary shows and work by artists inspired by the painter.
- Flehite
Museum Flehite is the historical museum of Amersfoort and Eemland in the Netherlands. The museum was founded in 1880 by the "Oudheidkundige Vereniging Flehite" . In 1890, the museum moved to the first of the current three-part building on the Breestraat...
: historic, educational and temporary exhibitions behind a splendid facade. The museum closed in 2007 due to asbestos contamination. It was refurbished and reopened in may 2009.
- Zonnehof: small elegant modernist building designed by Gerrit Rietveld on an eponymous square just south of the centre with temporary exhibitions of mostly contemporary art.
- Armando
The name Armando may be in reference to:* Armando , the name used by Dutch artist Herman Dirk van Dodeweerd* Armando , writer at Daily Kos* Armando , acid house musician* Armando Becker, Venezuelan basketball player...
Museum: Work by the painter Armando (who lived in Amersfoort as a child) in a renovated church building. Mostly temporary exhibitions. (Most of the church and the art on exhibition was destroyed in a fire on 22 October 2007.)
- Dutch Cavalry Museum
The Dutch Cavalry Museum is located in the centre of The Netherlands in the city of Amersfoort. The museum is hosted in two large buildings at the Bernhardkazerne army barracks....
- Culinary Museum
Sports
Amersfoort had its own professional
football (soccer)Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players using a spherical ball...
club named
HVCHVC can refer to:*Haitian Vodoun Culture Language - a language in Haiti*High velocity cloud - a common astronomical phenomenon*High vocal center - an area in the brain of a songbird controlling song*Himachal Vikas Congress - an Indian political party...
. It was founded on 30 July 1973, but disbanded on 30 June 1982 because of financial problems. The
swimming poolA swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is an artificially enclosed body of water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest and deepest is the Olympic size...
Sportfondsenbad has an annual nudist day in March for NFN members and donors only.
Bus
Bus services are provided by three firms: Connexxion, BBA and the
Stadsvervoer Nederland. Connexxion provides services in town and to some destinations further afield like Utrecht, while BBA and Stadsvervoer Nederland offer connections to regional destinations.
Rail
Amersfoort has three railway stations:
- Amersfoort
Amersfoort railway station is the main railway station in Amersfoort, Utrecht, The Netherlands.-History:The station is an important link between the central part of the Netherlands and the north and east of the country....
, the main station, which has trains to Enschede, also known as Eanske in the local dialect of Twents, is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands in the province of Overijssel and in the Twente region...
, RotterdamRotterdam ; city and municipality in the Dutch province of South Holland, situated in the west of the Netherlands. The municipality is the second largest in the country, with a population of 584,046 as of January 2007...
, Den HaagDen Haag may refer to:* The Hague, a city in the Netherlands* Den Haag , a novel written by South Korean author Ho Soo Kim...
, AmsterdamAmsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country...
and LeeuwardenLeeuwarden is the capital city of the Dutch province of Friesland. It is situated in the north of the country.-History:...
/Groningen||-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |}Groningen is the capital city of the province of Groningen in the Netherlands. With a population of 185,000, it is by far the largest city in the north of the Netherlands....
- Amersfoort Schothorst
Amersfoort Schothorst is a railway station on the Amersfoort to Zwolle Centraalspoorweg main line. It is located in north Amersfoort, the Netherlands. The station is operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen .-History:...
, to the north of Amersfoort station.
- Amersfoort Vathorst
Amersfoort Vathorst is a railway station on the Amersfoort to Zwolle Centraalspoorweg main line. It is located north Amersfoort, the Netherlands. The station is operated by the Nederlandse Spoorwegen .-History:...
, to the north of Amersfoort Schothorst.
Road
Two major motorways pass Amersfoort:
- to the north, the A1 motorway
The A1 motorway is a motorway in the Netherlands. The road connects the city of Amsterdam, near the interchange Watergraafsmeer, with the German border, near Oldenzaal and Bad Bentheim , and the German Autobahn BAB 30...
(Amsterdam - Apeldoorn)
- to the east, the A28 motorway
The A28 motorway is a motorway in the Netherlands. It is approximately 188 kilometers in length.The A28 traverses the Dutch provinces of Utrecht, Gelderland, Overijssel, Drenthe and Groningen...
(Utrecht - Groningen)
Water
The the river
EemThe Eem is a river in the north of the Utrecht Province in the Netherlands with a length of approximately .The river is fed by the Vallei Canal and a number of Veluwe creeks, the most important of which are the Heiligenberger, the Barneveldse and the Lunterse, all of which come together in...
(pronounced roughly "aim") begins in Amersfoort, and the town has a port for inland water transport. The Eem connects to the nearby
EemmeerThe Eemmeer is a lake situated in the middle of the Netherlands between the provinces of Flevoland and Utrecht, Noord-Holland. It measures and contains one small island, the Dode Hond . The Eemmeer is one in a series of peripheral lakes used to geohydrologically detach the low-lying polders of...
(Lake Eem). The Valleikanaal drains the eastern Gelderse Vallei and joins with other sources to form the Eem in Amersfoort.
Local government
The municipal council of Amersfoort consists of 39 seats, which are divided as follows:
- VVD
The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a Dutch liberal political party. The VVD is the most vocal supporter of private enterprise in the Netherlands although supportive of the welfare state and is often perceived as a more economically liberal party in contrast to the social-liberal D66...
- 6 seats
- PvdA
The Dutch Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. Since the Dutch general election, 2003, the PvdA has been the second largest political party in the Netherlands...
- 10 seats
- CDA
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a center-right Dutch Christian democratic political party. The party is currently the biggest coalition partner in the fourth Balkenende cabinet.-History before 1977:...
- 5 seats
- GroenLinks - 4 seats
- Jouw Amersfoort - 3 seats
- ChristenUnie - 3 seats
- SP
The Socialist Party is a Dutch socialist political party. After the 2006 election, the Socialist Party became one of the major parties of the Netherlands with 25 seats of 150, an increase of 16 seats...
- 3 seats
- Burger Partij Amersfoort - 5 seats
- PAPA (Politieke Actiepartij Amersfoort - not represented)
- NCPN (Nieuwe Communistische Partij Nederland - not represented)
The city has a
court of first instanceThe phrase "court of first instance" can refer to the following things:* A trial court of original or primary jurisdiction.* The Court of First Instance is also the name of a specific trial court of the European Union....
(
kantongerecht) and a regional chamber of commerce.
Economy
The city is a main location for several international companies:
- Yokogawa, an electrical engineering and software company, it's European headquarters is located in Amersfoort.
- Nutreco
Nutreco N.V. is a Dutch producer of animal nutrition, fish feed and processed meat products. It has about 100 production facilities in 24 countries, and eight research centers. The company was founded in 1994 after a Cinven-backed management buyout of the feed and nutrition division of BP. Nutreco...
, animal feed and human foodstuffs
- Arcadis, international consultants and engineers in infrastructure and environment, 14,000 employees
- DHV, consultants and engineers.
- Golden Tulip Hotels
Golden Tulip Hotels, with its head office in Lausanne, Switzerland, is a worldwide hospitality company with more than 780 hotels and 75,000 rooms in more than 50 countries...
, international hotel chain Golden Tulip Hotels, Inns and Resorts.
- Extron Electronics, manufacturers of AV control systems.
It also has a number of non-profit associations and foundations:
- VEH
VEH, or Veh, may stand for:* Vectored Exception Handling one of the Microsoft systems for exception handling.* Ve , a character of the Arabic alphabet.* Viral Epidermal Hyperplasia caused by the Epidermal Hyperplasia Virus...
, the largest home-owners association in the Netherlands; with 700,000 members, it is also the largest in the world
- NVA
NVA is a three-letter acronym for:*National People's Army, or Nationale Volksarmee, the army of former East Germany*Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, a Flemish political party also known as New-Flemish Alliance*NVA...
, the national association of insurance agents
- the KNLTB, the Dutch national lawn-tennis
Tennis is a sport played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a strung racquet to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court....
association.
Notable people born in Amersfoort
- See also People from Amersfoort
- Paulus Buys
Paulus Buys, heer van Zevenhoven and Capelle ter Vliet was Grand Pensionary of Holland between 1572 to 1584.-Life:...
(1531-1594) – Grand PensionaryThe Grand Pensionary was the most important Dutch official during the time of the United Provinces. In theory he was only a civil servant of the Estates of the dominant province among the Seven United Provinces: the county of Holland...
- Johan van Oldenbarnevelt
Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, knight, heer van Berkel en Rodenrijs , Gunterstein and Bakkum was a Dutch statesman, who played an important role in the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain.Van Oldenbarnevelt studied law at Leuven, Bourges, Heidelberg and Padua, and traveled in France and Italy...
(1547-1619) – statesman
- Piet Mondriaan (1872-1944) – painter
- Willem Sandberg
Jonkheer Willem Jacob Henri Berend Sandberg known as Willem Sandberg was a Dutch typographer and museum curator.He was born in Amersfoort, Holland in 1897 and studied art in Amsterdam. He became a follower of the Mazdaznan movement. As a young man he travelled, serving as an apprentice to a...
(1897) – graphic designer, Stedelijk MuseumThe Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam is a museum for modern art in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It is located at Museum Square, close to the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum....
director
- Johannes Heesters
Johannes Heesters is a Dutch-Austrian actor, singer and entertainer with an 87-year career, almost exclusively in the German-speaking world....
(1903) – pro-Nazi actor, singer and entertainer
- Ben Pon
Ben Pon is a vintner and former Olympian and motor racing driver from the Netherlands. He competed in one Formula One race, the 1962 Dutch Grand Prix, but had a far longer career in sports car racing, before turning his back on the track to concentrate on the wine trade...
(1936) – sports car racing driver
- Ben Pon (senior)
Ben Pon was a Dutch businessman. In 1947, Pon's Automobielhandel , became the first dealer outside of Germany to sell vehicles manufactured by Volkswagen....
– car importer and developer of the Volkswagen Type 2The Volkswagen Type 2 was the second automotive line introduced by German automaker Volkswagen. It was a van introduced in 1950, initially based on Volkswagen's first model, the Type 1, also known as the "Beetle". The Type 2 is the forerunner of modern cargo and passenger vans...
- Loet Geutjes
Louis Geutjes is a former water polo player from The Netherlands, who finished in seventh position with the Dutch Men's Team at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico...
(1943) – water polo player
- Feike de Vries
Feike de Vries is a former water polo player from The Netherlands, who finished in seventh position with the Dutch Men's Team at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico....
(1943) – water polo player
- Anke Rijnders
Anthonia Marie Rijnders is a former butterfly and freestyle swimmer from the Netherlands, who competed for her native country at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. As a member of the Dutch Relay Teams she finished in fifth place, both in the 4x100m Medley and the 4x100m Freestyle...
(1956) – swimmer
- Frank Drost
Frank Willem Drost is a former freestyle and butterfly swimmer from The Netherlands, who competed for his native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1984....
(1963) – swimmer
- Jan Wagenaar
Jan Theodorus Wagenaar is a retired water polo player from The Netherlands, who finished in ninth position with the Dutch team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona....
(1965) – water polo player
- Arie van de Bunt
Arend Jantinus van de Bunt is a former water polo goalkeeper from The Netherlands, who participated in three Summer Olympics for Holland. From 1992 on he finished in ninth , tenth and eleventh position with the National Men's Team. He retired from the sport in the spring of 2005....
(1969) – water polo goalkeeper
External links