Apeldoorn

Apeldoorn
City and Municipality
Former town hall in 2012
Flag Coat of arms
Location in Gelderland
Coordinates: 52°13′N 5°58′E / 52.217°N 5.967°E / 52.217; 5.967Coordinates: 52°13′N 5°58′E / 52.217°N 5.967°E / 52.217; 5.967
Country	Netherlands
Province	Gelderland
Government[1]
• Body	Municipal council
• Mayor	John Berends (CDA)
Area[2]
• Municipality	341.15 km2 (131.72 sq mi)
• Land	339.91 km2 (131.24 sq mi)
• Water	1.24 km2 (0.48 sq mi)
Elevation[3]	16 m (52 ft)
Population (Municipality, August 2017; Urban and Metro, May 2014)[4][5]
• Municipality	160,852
• Density	473/km2 (1,230/sq mi)
• Urban	157,679
• Metro	213,899
Demonym(s)	Apeldoornaar, Apeldoorner, Apeldorenaar
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postcode	3888, 7300–7381
Area code	055, 0577
Website	www.apeldoorn.nl

Apeldoorn in the 17th century by Jacob van Ruisdael

Omnisport Velodrome Apeldoorn

Apeldoorn (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈaːpəldoːrn] ( listen)) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. It is a regional centre. The municipality of Apeldoorn, including villages like Beekbergen, Loenen and Hoenderloo, had a population of 160,852 in 2017. The western half of the municipality lies on the Veluwe ridge, the eastern half lies in the IJssel valley. John Berends of the CDA is the mayor of Apeldoorn.^[1]

The town of Apeldoorn[edit]

Apenheul ape zoo, male Bonobo

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 from Amersfoort to Deventer crossed that from Arnhem to Zwolle. A 1740 map refers to it as Appeldoorn.^[6]

Close by is the favourite country-seat of the royal family of the Netherlands called the palace het Nieuwe Loo (now Het Loo). It was originally a hunting lodge of the dukes of Gelderland, but in its present form dates chiefly from the time of the then Stadtholder William III of England (1685–1686).^[6][7] The younger sister of Princess Beatrix, Princess Margriet, lives nearby the palace Het Loo, with her husband Pieter van Vollenhoven.

Apeldoorn was a relatively insignificant place until the major building projects of the 19th century and those of the period following World War II.^[6] The Protestant church was restored after a fire in 1890.^[7] The Roman 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 newspaper company, some hospitals and nursing homes. With over 95,000 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.

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 production facility by AFP (Apeldoorn Flexible Packaging B.V.), 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 and it also houses the main police and fire department offices among with some other local companies like Futurumshop sporting goods, Akos engineering and Werklust load lifters, On the west side of this estate at the Laan van Westenenk there are still the buildings of one of the largest news printing companies of the regio, Wegener, moved to this location in 1993, but they closed definitely in 2016 after reorganization, the buildings are now in use by other companies.

Apeldoorn has also now a considerable meat processing industry with production and storage facilities of among others; Vion, Van Drie Group (ESA, Ekro), Grolleman Groep (coldstores, transport and meat processing), Amsterdam Meat Company (Ameco), other big/larger companies or ones that are of local importance are, among others; Hanos international (horesca), Hamer B.V. (installation), HSL Locistics but this will be as of january 2018 merged with GVT Logistics, Sandd (postal services), HCA Holland Colours (industrial plastics coloring), Remeha (heating boilers), Royal Reesink N.V., UPS,DHL,FedEx, Royal Talens (artist materials manufacturers and suppliers),VDL Weweler (international bus and truck parts manufacturing company),I.T.S. BV., Beekman transport, Kisjes transport and container rental, (others maybe added later).

Apeldoorn is also known for its (historical) large number of used car dealers.

Apeldoorn had until a few years ago a production facility that produced basic materials for medicine production operated by Akzo Diosynth, but production was seized here, and the terrain located at the Vlijtseweg is now renamed after the product that was produced here before that, Zwitsal, it is now known as “Zwitsal Apeldoorn” and the former facility now houses lots of new local businesses like beer brewery “De Vlijt”.

Apenheul is a zoo which hosts a number of different types of apes and monkeys, some 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 2, 3 and 5 (see Apeldoorn railway station, Bus Services). There is also an amusement park situated in Apeldoorn, called the Koningin 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 after Queen Juliana.

The local hospital is the Gelre Hospital "Lukas", offering secondary health care to Apeldoorn and the surrounding towns.

Apeldoorn railway station is, among regular national and international services, the terminus for the Veluwse Stoomtrein Maatschappij, a preserved steam railway that runs to Dieren via Beekbergen.

In April 2009 Apeldoorn made world news, when eight people were killed after a man tried to attack the Dutch royal family during a Queen's Day celebration by crashing his car near the royal family's bus.

The southwestern corner of the municipality is part of the Hoge Veluwe National Park. It is the final Battle Honour of The Royal Canadian Regiment who took part in the town's liberation in World War II.

House of Orange-Nassau[edit]

Paleis Het Loo, spring 2012

Paleis Het Loo reflects the historical ties between the House of Orange-Nassau and the Netherlands. 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 Stadtholder William III of England up to and including Queen Wilhelmina.

In November 1684 Prince William III of Orange, then Stadtholder of Gelderland, purchased Het Loo with the intentions of building a palatial hunting lodge somewhere on the property. On April 5, 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 Princess Mary 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 to Willem IV (1711–1751) who was, from 1747, Stadtholder of all the provinces. Both Willem IV and his son Willem V (1748–1806) used the palace in the 18th century as a summer residence.

Geography[edit]

Climate[edit]

Apeldoorn experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) similar to almost all of the Netherlands.

Population centres[edit]

Topographic map image of Apeldoorn (town), September 2014

Very small hamlets are printed in italics.

• Apeldoorn (see below)
• Assel
• Beekbergen: a village 6 km south of Apeldoorn
• Beemte-Broekland, north of Apeldoorn
• Engeland, west of Beekbergen
• Groenendaal, along the A50 motorway Apeldoorn - Arnhem
• Hoenderloo, 8 km south-west of Apeldoorn, along the road to Ede, near the Hoge Veluwe National Park
• Hoog Soeren, situated amidst the Veluwe forest
• Hooilanden
• Klarenbeek, east of Lieren, partially in the municipality of Voorst
• Lieren
• Loenen, this village, 5 km south-east of Beekbergen, has a castle ("Ter Horst"), a cardboard factory and an artificial "waterfall"
• Nieuw-Milligen, about 10 km in the direction of Amersfoort, consists of an army training centre, some camping sites and some scattered houses and farms
• Oosterhuizen
• Radio Kootwijk
• 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
• 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"
• Zilven, the northern edge of Loenen

Economy and infrastructure[edit]

Local businesses[edit]

• Centraal Beheer, a Dutch insurance company, known for their advertisement slogan Even Apeldoorn bellen (Just call Apeldoorn)
• Sparta B.V., a Dutch bicycle manufacturer based in Apeldoorn
• Royal Talens, now multinational manufacturer of painter's colours

Transport[edit]

There are four railway stations in Apeldoorn, these are:

• Apeldoorn
• Apeldoorn De Maten
• Apeldoorn Osseveld
• Klarenbeek

Central station Apeldoorn

Station Apeldoorn De Maten

Station Apeldoorn Osseveld

Station Klarenbeek

The bus services in the city are provided by Syntus and has 18 lines.

A Map Of The Stadbus Plus Network

Apeldoorn Bus station

Apeldoorn Bus station

Culture[edit]

Sport[edit]

Until early 2013, Apeldoorn housed the professional football club AGOVV Apeldoorn (Eerste Divisie), that played its matches in the Sportpark Berg & Bos stadium in the western part of Apeldoorn. However, AGOVV was forced to declare bankruptcy on January 10, 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 XV Thomas Cook's Rugby Club and RC Hilversum in front of 2,671 spectators. It was a 3 points draw. The present rugby club, Rams RFC, was founded in December 1971.

The most successful club in Apeldoorn is the SV Dynamo volleyball team, who are the 12-fold champion in the Dutch A-League, most recently in 2010. Another successful volleybal club in Apeldoorn, and a big competitor to Dynamo, is Alterno.

Because of the growth of Apeldoorn, and the population's interest in sports, Apeldoorn has built a new stadium for volleyball, indoor athletics and track cycling. The stadium, Omnisport Apeldoorn, opened in 2008 and has hosted the 2011 UCI Track Cycling World Championships and the European Track Championships in 2011 and 2013. In 2016 the city hosted the opening time-trial stage of the Giro d'Italia.

Apeldoorn houses the following footballclubs: • AGOVV • Alexandria • Apeldoornse Boys • Columbia • CSV Apeldoorn • Groen−Wit '62 • Orderbos • Robur et Velocitas • Turkse Kracht Apeldoorn • Victoria boys • WSV • ZVV '56

2009 car attack[edit]

On April 30, 2009, the Dutch national holiday Koninginnedag (Queen's Day), a man drove his car at high speed into a parade which included Queen Beatrix and other members of the Royal family.^[9]

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.^[10]

Sister Cities[edit]

• Banda Aceh, Indonesia^[11]
• Burlington, Canada^[12]

References[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• CBC Archives – CBC Radio (April 22, 1945) reporting on the famine in Apeldoorn and the inflation of food prices.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Apeldoorn.

• Official website (in Dutch)
• Apeldoorn travel guide from Wikivoyage