Paleis Het Loo, spring 2012Apenheul ape zoo, male BonoboApartment buildings along the canalCity hall
The oldest known reference to Apeldoorn, then called Appoldro, dates from the 8th century. The settlement came into being at the point where the old road fromAmersfoort toDeventer crossed that fromArnhem toZwolle. A 1740 map refers to it as Appeldoorn.[5]
Close by is the favourite country-seat of the royal family of the Netherlands called the palace het Nieuwe Loo (nowHet Loo). It was originally a hunting lodge of the dukes of Gelderland, but in its present form dates chiefly from the time of the thenStadtholderWilliam III of England (1685–1686).[5][6]The younger sister ofPrincess Beatrix,Princess Margriet, lives nearby the palace Het Loo, with her husbandPieter van Vollenhoven.
Apeldoorn was a relatively insignificant place until the major building projects of the 19th century and those of the period followingWorld War II.[5] The Protestant church was restored after a fire in 1890.[6] TheRoman Catholic Mariakerk is a national monument.
Apeldoorn possesses large paper-mills, many offices (Centraal Beheer, an insurance company; the Dutch Tax services; the "Kadaster", the government land registry service; and some more), a hospital and nursing homes. With over 100,000 people working in the municipality, Apeldoorn is one of the most important employment centres in the eastern Netherlands. Apeldoorn also has several important educational institutes, such as the Saxion University of Applied Sciences (hotel and facility management), the Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands Police Academy and the Theological University of Apeldoorn.
Grote Kerk at Loolaan
Apeldoorn is well suited to logistical and distribution companies because of its location close to the intersection of two major Dutch motorways. TheA1 runs west from Amsterdam to the German border, where it leads towards Hannover, and Berlin. TheA50 connects the north of the Netherlands with the south.
Apeldoorn used to be[when?] well known as a town of paper making and clothes washing companies, due to the clean filtered groundwater which seeped through the sand of push moraines down to the IJsselvallei east of Apeldoorn. In 2008 the largest paper mill of what was left of "Van Gelder Papier" after reorganizations went bankrupt. In 1996 a devastating fire destroyed the remnants of the last part of the original factory. Other parts of the production facility that remained are now in use as a production facility by AFP (Apeldoorn Flexible Packaging B.V.), since early 2021 known as "Trioworld" because AFP merged with "Trioplast", Loparex B.V. and Owens Corning Veil Netherlands B.V. On the entire industrial estate now known as "Van Gelder Park" are now also located a local head office of Rabobank, the main police and fire department offices along with some other local companies.
Apeldoorn has a considerable meat processing industry with production and storage facilities of among others;Vion NV, Van Drie Group (ESA, Ekro), Grolleman Groep (cold stores, transport and meat processing), Amsterdam Meat Company (Ameco). Other big/larger companies or ones that are of local importance include Hanos international (horesca), Hamer B.V. (installation), HSL Logistics (since merged with GVT Logistics), HCA Holland Colours (industrial plastics coloring), Remeha (heating boilers), Royal Reesink N.V. The former distribution centre is now used as a distribution centre for Picnic, an internet grocery home delivery service, although Royal Reesink is still using the office parts of the building.
In August 2018 PostNL opened a large package sorting centre at the Oude Apeldoornseweg, newly built at the industrial area now known as "FizzionParc" but once was known as an industrial estate of Philips Data Systems, the new PostNL location will provide work for around 400 employees.
On 27 November 2018, a rapid spreading fire completely destroyed the largest store ofKarwei DIY centres in The Netherlands, located at the Laan van de Dierenriem in Apeldoorn. No one was injured, and as of 2020 the location was rebuilt and reopened. A part of the new building is now up for rent for another business.
Akzo Diosynth once operated a facility that produced base materials for medicine manufacture, but production has since ceased. The terrain located at the Vlijtseweg has been renamed after the product that was produced here before that, Zwitsal. It is now known as "Zwitsal Apeldoorn" and the former facility now houses many new local businesses, such as the beer brewery "De Vlijt".
Apenheul is azoo which hosts a number of different types ofapes andmonkeys, many of which are free to walk around the visitors. It is situated at the western edge of Apeldoorn and can easily be reached by local bus. There is also an amusement park situated in Apeldoorn, called theKoningin Juliana Toren (Queen Juliana Tower). It is situated nearby the Apenheul and lies on the road to Hoog Soeren. It is called the Koningin Juliana Toren because of the tower, which was built in 1910 and was later named afterQueen Juliana.
The local hospital is theGelre Hospital "Lukas", offering secondary health care to Apeldoorn and the surrounding towns.
In April 2009 Apeldoorn made world news, when eight people werekilled after aman tried to attack theDutch royal family during aQueen's Day celebration by crashing his car near the royal family's bus.
PaleisHet Loo reflects the historical ties between theHouse of Orange-Nassau and theNetherlands. The central part of the palace and the lateral pavilions show how the palace was inhabited by the House of Orange for three centuries starting with the King StadtholderWilliam III of England up to and includingQueen Wilhelmina.
In November 1684 Prince William III of Orange, thenStadtholder ofGelderland, purchased Het Loo with the intentions of building a palatial hunting lodge somewhere on the property. On 5 April 1685, the first contract was tendered and in September of the same year the stonework of the middle section (or corps de logis) of what came to be known as Het Loo was completed. In 1686, the year given on the facade of the building, the wings, originally linked by colonnades to the corps de logis were added, the walls were built and the gardens were laid out.
Het Loo became the favorite hunting seat and country palace of William III and his wife QueenMary II, and until his death in 1702 furnishings and decorations both inside and outside underwent repeated alterations and embellishments. At that time symmetry was considered ideal and the design for the building and grounds featured a central axis with mirror image components on either side. Inside the palace the axis consisted of the Entrance Hall, the Staircase and the Great Hall on the first floor. West and east of the Great Hall respectively were the apartments of William III and Mary II. The apartments of the courtiers and the Dining Room were on the ground floor.
In 1689 William III became King of England, Scotland and Ireland and this elevation of his position and power brought an enlargement of Het Loo in its wake. Between 1691 and 1694 the colonnades which linked the corps de logis to the wings on either side were replaced by four pavilions. These pavilions contained the new apartments of William III and Mary II, a new Dining Room, a Long Gallery and a Chapel. Queen Mary did not return to the Netherlands after 1689 and never saw the enlargement.
On the death of King William III in 1702 there was disagreement about his inheritance, but eventually, in 1732, Het Loo descended toWillem IV (1711–1751) who was, from 1747, Stadtholder of all the provinces. BothWillem IV and his sonWillem V (1748–1806) used the palace in the 18th century as a summer residence.
Uddel, a farmer's village 10 km north-west of Apeldoorn, where pigs and calves are raised; the majority of its population is known to belong to very orthodox Protestant Churches
Ugchelen, formerly a village of its own, now an outer area of Apeldoorn, still having its own character
Wenum-Wiesel, with an old water-mill; situated 5 km north of Apeldoorn. Is actually made up of two villages, Wenum and Wiesel.
Woudhuizen, now at the eastern border of Apeldoorn. There is an outer area in Apeldoorn called "Woudhuis" and there is a small forest, called "Woudhuizer Bos"
Memorial Centre het Apeldoornsche Bosch commemorates the Jewish psychiatric institution where close to 1,300 patients and staff were deported to Auschwitz in the night of 21/22 January 1943. None of them returned.
Until early 2013, Apeldoorn housed the professional football clubAGOVV Apeldoorn (Eerste Divisie), that played its matches in theStadion Berg & Bos in the western part of Apeldoorn. However, AGOVV was forced to declare bankruptcy on 8 January 2013, because of an €400,000 tax debt. In 1958 the AGOVV stadium was used to promote Dutch Rugby Football, by staging a match between an English touring XVThomas Cook's Rugby Club and RC Hilversum in front of 2,671 spectators. It was a 3-points draw. See film clip of first overseas tour to Holland 1958[8] The present rugby club, Rams RFC, was founded in December 1971.
The most successful club in Apeldoorn is theSV Dynamo volleyball team, who are the 15-fold champion in the Dutch A-League, most recently in 2023. Another successful volleyball club in Apeldoorn, and a big competitor to Dynamo, isAlterno.
On 30 April 2009, the Dutch national holidayKoninginnedag(Queen's Day), a man drove his car at high speed into a parade which includedQueen Beatrix and other members of the royal family.[10]
The driver hit members of the public lining the street leaving twenty-two injured and eight dead, including the driver himself, who died the following day. Although the royal family was unharmed, it is believed to be the first attack on the Dutch royal family in modern times.[11]
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