Everything about Arnhem Netherlands totally explained
Arnhem (
South Guelderish:
Èrnem) is a city and
municipality, situated in the eastern part of
the Netherlands. It's the capital of the province of
Gelderland and located near the river
Lower Rhine as well as near the
St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 142,634 residents (per January 1, 2007) and with that, it's the second largest city of the province Gelderland, after
Nijmegen (160,681) as well as one of the 10
largest cities in the Netherlands. The municipality is part of the
city region Arnhem-Nijmegen, a
metropolitan area with 722,181 inhabitants.
History
The earliest history of Arnhem
Arnhem was first mentioned as such in
893 as
Arneym or
Arentheym, referring to the many
eagles that inhabited the hills and forests of Arnhem back then. Traces of human residence date back much further, however.
The oldest archeological findings of human activity around Arnhem are two firestones of about 70.000 years ago. This comes from the
stone age, when the
Neanderthals lived in this part of Europe. In
Schuytgraaf, tracks of a hunter's camp have been discovered from around 5000 BC. In
Schaarsbergen, 12 grave hills were found from 2400 BC, which brought the so-called
Neolithic revolution to the area of Arnhem, for example the rise of the farmers.
The earliest settlement in Arnhem dates from 1500 BC, where traces have been found on the
Hoogkamp, where the Van Goyenstraat is currently located. In the inner city, around the
St. Jansbeek, traces of settlement have been found from around 700 BC, while the first traces south to the Rhine have been found dating around 500 BC, in the
Schuytgraaf.
Though the early tracks of settlements did show that the early residents of Arnhem descended from the forests on the hills, Arnhem wasn't built on the banks of the river Rhine, but a little higher along the
St. Jansbeek. Arnhem arose on the location where the road between
Nijmegen and
Utrecht/
Zutphen split. Seven streams provided the city with water, and only when the flow of the Rhine was changed in
1530, was the city located at the river.
History of the city of Arnhem
The city of Arnhem had its real origins in
1233 when
Otto II,
count of Guelders from
Zutphen, conferred
city rights on the town, which had belonged to the abbey of Prüm, settled in, and fortified it. Arnhem entered the
Hanseatic League in
1443. In
1473, it was captured by
Charles the Bold of Burgundy. In
1514,
Charles of Egmond,
duke of
Guelders, took it from the dukes of Burgundy; in
1543, it fell to the
emperor Charles V. As capital of the so-called "Kwartier van Veluwe" it joined the
Union of Utrecht in
1579 and became part of the
Republic of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands in
1585. The French occupied the town
1672–
74; from
1795 to
1813, it was reoccupied by the French, by both revolutionary and imperial forces. In the early 19th century, the former fortifications were almost completely dismantled, to give space for town expansion. The
Sabelspoort (Sabresgate) is the only remaining part of the medieval walls.
In the
19th century, Arnhem was a genteel resort town famous for its picturesque beauty. It was known as "het Haagje van het oosten" (The Little Hague of the East), mainly because a number of rich former sugar barons or planters from the Indies settled there, as they did in
The Hague. Even now the city is famous for its parks and greenery. The urbanization in the north on hilly terrain is also quite unusual for the Netherlands.
The Battle of Arnhem
In
World War II, during
Operation Market Garden (September
1944), the
British 1st Airborne Division and the
Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were given the task of securing the
bridge at Arnhem. The units were
parachuted and glider-landed into the area on
September 17 and later. The bulk of the force was dropped rather far from the bridge and never met their objective. A small force of
British 1st Airborne managed to make their way as far as the bridge but was unable to secure both sides. The
Allied troops encountered stiff resistance from the
German 9th and
10th SS Panzer divisions, which had been stationed in and around the city.
The British force at the bridge eventually surrendered on
September 21, and a full withdrawal of the remaining forces was made on
September 26. These events were dramatized in the 1977 movie
A Bridge Too Far. (The bridge scenes in the movie were shot in
Deventer, where a similar bridge over the
IJssel was available, as the area around Arnhem bridge had changed too much to represent WWII era Arnhem). As a tribute, the rebuilt bridge was renamed '
John Frost-bridge' after the commander of the paratroopers. The official commemoration is
September 16.
The current bridge is the third almost-identical bridge built at the same spot. The Dutch Army destroyed the first bridge when the Germans invaded Holland in 1940. The second bridge was destroyed by the US Army Air Forces shortly after the 1944 battle.
A second battle of Arnhem took place in April 1945 when the city was
liberated by
I Canadian Corps of the
First Canadian Army.
Although it's generally said, as above, that the British Force at the Northern end of the Arnhem bridge surrendered, General John Frost, who as a Colonel commanded that force,fiercely denied that. He and his men were overwhelmed and were captured.
Names of Arnhem
Through the ages, the area of Arnhem has been known by various names, both official and unofficial.
Arnhem
The name
Arnhem comes from
Arneym, which in turn comes from
Arentheem or the
Latin Arenacum. This literally means
"home of the eagle" (arend means eagle in Dutch) and stems from the many
eagles that used to inhabit the hills and the woods of Arnhem. The name Arneym is first mentioned in
893 by the monastery Sint-Salvatorabdij. The naam Arenacum, the first mention of the area which became known as Arnhem, comes from the Roman era and means
"with eagles".
Èrnem
Èrnem is the name of the city in the local dialect,
South Guelderish. In everyday life, the name isn't often used by the inhabitants of Arnhem, who seldom speak with the Arnhemian accent/dialect any more. This accent is now mainly confined to the working class areas.
Arnheim
Arnheim is the
German name for Arnhem; it more clearly refers to the origin of the name (heim = home).
Hague of the East (
Haagje van het Oosten in Dutch)
In the second half of the
19th century, Arnhem was an elitist city and therefore was sometimes called
The Hague of the east of the Netherlands.
Green city on the Rhine or
Park City
The image of Arnhem on the Rijn, with green forests in the background, has always been a much-loved theme of painters. Besides that, Arnhem has many parks. This has earned Arnhem the name
Green city on the Rhine (from the 17th century) or
Park City (from the 19th century).
Meginhardeswich
Around 814 there's a written reference to
Meginhardeswich, which is now, as the present-day
Meijnerswijk, part of Arnhem. In 847 it was plundered by the
Vikings.
Oppidium Arnoldi Villa
When the Romans came to the Netherlands, around 50 BC, the area around was called
Oppidium Arnoldi Villa, or "higher situated living area". The settlement itself was called
Arenacum.
Population centres
The municipality of Arnhem consists of the city of Arnhem and the following surrounding suburbs and former villages:
Places of interest
The
Groote Kerk (St. Eusebius), built
1452–
1560, lost most of its tower during World War II, of which a part has been reconstructed to a modern design and opened in
1964. Officially the tower isn't part of the church and is owned by the municipality.
The house of Maarten van Rossum, a general serving Duke Charles van Gelre, has been the town hall since
1830: The
satyrs in its
Renaissance ornamentation earned it the name
Duivelshuis ("devil's house").
The
National Heritage Museum (
Nederlands Openluchtmuseum) is located outside the city. It is an
open air museum and park with antique houses, farms, and factories from different parts of the Netherlands.
Burgers' Zoo
is the biggest and most-visited zoo in the Netherlands, featuring an underwater walkthrough, desert, mangrove, rainforest, etc.
The
Gelredome, the home field of
Vitesse, the city's
Eredivisie side in
football, is a unique facility that features a retractable roof and a slide-out grass pitch. The concept has been fully duplicated since then by
Veltins-Arena in
Gelsenkirchen,
Germany, and
University of Phoenix Stadium in
Glendale, Arizona,
USA, and partially by the
Sapporo Dome in
Japan (which has a sliding pitch but a fixed roof).
The
KEMA Toren (formerly known as
SEP Control Tower) is the highest structure of the town. It is a 140-m-high TV tower.
The
Korenmarkt is the nightlife area. On this square and surrounding streets lie clubs, bars and a movie theater. It's a very popular area for the residents and visitors. In summer it's filled with tables and chairs from all the bars and a lot of people can be found here sitting in the sun and enjoying a drink.
Transport
Arnhem has a major railway station, which is serviced by several intercity lines and the
ICE to
Düsseldorf and further on to
Frankfurt. Nowadays there are also trains departing all the way to Moscow, by NS HiSpeed. But only one train part makes it all the way to Moscow. The intercity lines provide direct connections to
Utrecht,
Nijmegen, and
Zutphen. It is also the terminus for several local railway services. Arnhem has three other stations, namely Arnhem Velperpoort, Arnhem Presikhaaf, and Arnhem Zuid.
Arnhem is unique in the Netherlands with its
trolleybus system.
Notable people
» See also
Arnhem was the birthplace of physicist and Nobel Prize laureate Hendrik Lorentz in 1853.
The English poet Sir Philip Sidney died in 1586 in Arnhem.
The film comedienne Truus van Aalten was born in Arnhem in 1910.
Dutch/British actress Audrey Hepburn attended Arnhem Conservatory during the war years 1939–45.
Dutch water polo player Rik Toonen, winner of Olympic bronze in 1976, was born in Arnhem.
The locally famous field hockey player Pepijn is a citizen of Arnhem.
Cirque du Soleil artist (Love (Cirque du Soleil), 2006) Goos Meeuwsen was born in Arnhem.
Graphic artist M. C. Escher moved to Arnhem when he was five and spent most of his youth there.
Facts and Figures
Arnhem is the name of a march composed by A.E. Kelly.
Arnhem Land in Australia is named after the VOC-ship Arnhem.
Arnhem is twinned with the London Borough of Croydon.
The map Operation Market Garden from the video game Battlefield 1942 portrays The Battle of Arnhem.
Arnhem and the John Frost bridge were featured in the game .
The Arnhem little league baseball team advance to the 2007 Little League World Series.Further Information
Get more info on 'Arnhem Netherlands'.
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