Amersfoort (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈaːmərsfoːrt]ⓘ) is acity andmunicipality in theprovince ofUtrecht,Netherlands. As of 31 January 2023, the municipality had a population of 160,902, making it the second-largest of the province and fifteenth-largest of the country. Amersfoort is also one of the largest Dutch railway junctions with its three stations—Amersfoort Centraal,Schothorst andVathorst—due to its location on two of the Netherlands' main east to west and north to south railway lines. The city was used during the1928 Summer Olympics as a venue for themodern pentathlon events. Amersfoort marked its 750th anniversary as a city in 2009.[6]
Hunter gatherers set up camps in the Amersfoort region in theMesolithic 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 dating to 1000 BC have been found in the Amersfoort area. The name Amersfoort, after aford in the Amer River, today called theEem, first appeared in the 11th century. The city grew around what is now theHof, where theBishops of Utrecht established a court in order to control the "Gelderse Vallei [nl]" area. It was granted city rights in 1259 by the bishop of Utrecht,Henry I van Vianden. A first defensive wall, made of brick, was completed around 1300 but expansion led to the construction of a new wall in 1380, which was completed around 1450. TheKoppelpoort, 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'sMuurhuizen (wallhouses) Street is located where the first wall stood.
TheOnze-Lieve-Vrouwentoren (Tower ofOur Lady)[7] is one of the tallest medieval church towers in the Netherlands at 98 metres (322 ft). When it was built, it was the middle point of The Netherlands,[8] it was exactly built in the center and a reference for the Dutch grid system. The nickname of the tower is Lange Jan ('Long John').[9]
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 theRD coordinate system, 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 theMiddle Ages. Apart from the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwetoren, theKoppelpoort, and theMuurhuizen (Wall-houses), there is also the Sint-Joriskerk (Saint George's 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.Jews also lived in Amersfoort in the Middle Ages, before being expelled from the province in 1546 and beginning to return to the city in 1655.[10]
The nickname for Amersfoort,Keistad (boulder-city), originates in theAmersfoortse Kei, a 9-tonne (19,842 lb)boulder that was dragged from theSoest 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 everyonebeer andpretzels. Other nearby towns then nicknamed the people of AmersfoortKeientrekker (boulder-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. There are not many boulders in the Netherlands, so it can be regarded as an icon.
One of the six Dutch towns established in the 17th century in what is nowBrooklyn was called "Nieuw Amersfoort" (New Amersfoort). The original patentees wereWolfert Gerritse van Kouwenhoven andAndries Hudde.[11] Unlike other Dutch names which were retained up to the present, Nieuw Amersfoort is now called "Flatlands".
In the 18th century, the city flourished because of the cultivation oftobacco,[note 1] 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 infantry and cavalry barracks, which were needed to defend the western cities of the Netherlands.
After the 1920s, growth stalled again; in 1970, the national government designated Amersfoort, then numbering some 70,000 inhabitants, as a "growth city".
During the First World War, the area of Amersfoort with nearbySoesterberg andZeist was one of the places in The Netherlands where many refugees from Belgium were sheltered. The "Belgenmonument", located in the vicinity of the former refugee camp Elisabethdorp, commemorates this period and the hardships of the Belgian refugees.
Since Amersfoort was the largest garrison town in the Netherlands before the outbreak of theSecond World War, with eight barracks, and part of themain line of defence, the whole population of then 43,000 was evacuated at the start of the 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 inAuschwitz andSobibor. In 1943, thesynagogue, 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 ofrabbis.
There was aNaziconcentration camp near the city of Amersfoort during the war. The camp, officially calledPolizeiliches Durchgangslager Amersfoort (Police Transit Camp Amersfoort), better known asKamp Amersfoort, was actually located in the neighbouring municipality ofLeusden.
After the war the leader of the camp, Joseph Kotälla, served a life sentence in prison. He died in captivity in 1979. Some of the victims of the camp are buried inRusthof cemetery near the town.
Among the victims were prisoners of war from theSoviet Union, including 101 Central Asians, mostlyUzbeks. Locals would commemorate them, but the identity of the 101 soldiers was not known, until journalist Remco Reiding started investigating this case in 1999, after hearing about the cemetery. Amongst the few remaining people who witnessed the 101 soldiers is Henk Broekhuizen.[12][13]
The Mondriaan House: birthplace of the painterPiet Mondriaan. Exhibits a lifesize reconstruction of his workshop in Paris. Some temporary shows and work by artists inspired by the painter.
Flehite: 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. (closed)
Armando Museum: work by the painterArmando who lived in Amersfoort as a child in a renovated church building. Most of the church and the art on exhibition was destroyed in a fire on 22 October 2007.[14]
Dutch Cavalry Museum: museum in 475 years old barracks. Most other military museums in the Netherlands got absorbed into the National Military Museum (Nationaal Militair Museum), but the cavalry museum has stood strong. It shows Dutch cavalry and tanks.
Amersfoort had its own professionalfootball (soccer) club named HVC Amersfoort. It was founded on 30 July 1973, but disbanded on 30 June 1982 because of financial problems. The city also hosted the riding part of themodern pentathlon event for the1928 Summer Olympics.[16] Amersfoort also hosted theDutch Open (tennis) tournament from 2002 until its end in 2008.
The city is also home to the baseball and softball clubQuick Amersfoort. The club's top men's baseball team plays in theHonkbal Hoofdklasse, the highest level of Dutch baseball.
It is the hometown of field and track athleteFemke Bol.
Bus services are provided by 2 firms: U-OV and Syntus. Syntus provides services in town and the entirety of the province Utrecht, save for the bus to the city Utrecht, which is provided by U-OV.
The riverEem (pronounced roughly "aim") begins in Amersfoort, and the town has a port for inland water transport. The Eem connects to the nearbyEemmeer (Lake Eem). The Valleikanaal drains the easternGelderse Vallei [nl] and joins with other sources to form the Eem in Amersfoort.
Themunicipal council of Amersfoort consists of 39 seats. The municipal council elections are held every 4 years. As of 2022, the seats are divided as follows:[18][19]
^"Postcodetool for 3811LM".Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland (in Dutch). Het Waterschapshuis. Archived fromthe original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved3 April 2014.
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