1.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
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South Holland
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South Holland is a province in the midwestern Netherlands. It has a population of just over 3.6 million, situated on the North Sea in the west of the Netherlands, South Holland covers an area of 3,403 km2, of which 585 km2 is water. It borders North Holland to the north, Utrecht and Gelderland to the east, the provincial capital is The Hague, while its largest city is Rotterdam. Archaeological discoveries in Hardinxveld-Giessendam indicate that the area of South Holland has been inhabited since at least ca.7,500 years before present, agriculture and permanent settlements probably originated around 2,000 years later, based on excavations near Vlaardingen. In the classical antiquity, South Holland was part of the Roman Province of Germania Inferior, the Romans built fortresses along the border, such as Praetorium Agrippinae near modern-day Valkenburg, Matilo near modern-day Leiden, and Albaniana near modern-day Alphen aan den Rijn. A city was founded near modern-day Voorburg, Forum Hadriani and it was built according to the grid plan, and facilitated a square, a court, a bathhouse and several temples. After the departure of the Romans, the area belonged to the Frisian Kingdom, in 690, the Anglo-Saxon monk Willibrord arrived near Katwijk and was granted permission to spread Roman Catholicism by the Frankish king Pepin II. He accordingly founded a church in Oegstgeest, after which the area was gradually Christianised. The area was appointed to East Francia in the Treaty of Verdun in 843, after which the king granted lands to Gerolf and this was the birth of the County of Holland. Gerolf was later succeeded by Dirk I, who continued to rule Holland under the Frankish king, in 1248, count William II ordered the construction of the Ridderzaal, which was later finished by his son and successor Floris V. The first city in South Holland to receive city rights was Dordrecht, the city retained a dominant position in the area until it was struck by a series of floods in the late 14th century. The same century saw a series of civil wars, the Hook and Cod wars. Both his daughter Jaqueline and his brother John, the supported by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. The conflict ended in 1490, with John victorious, overall, the area of South Holland remained largely agrarian throughout the late Middle Ages. This changed around 1500, when Holland became Europes most urbanised area, during the Eighty Years War, the area of South Holland was the scene of the Capture of Brielle, the Siege of Leiden and the assassination of William the Silent. The United Netherlands declared their independence in 1581, and Holland quickly emerged as the dominant province, with important trading cities such as Leiden, Delft, Gouda. In 1575, the Netherlands first university was founded in Leiden by William the Silent, the Hague, which had originated around the castle of the counts of Holland, became its new political centre. Both the States of Holland and the States General seated in the Binnenhof, the Dutch Golden Age blossomed in the 17th century
3.
Duin- en Bollenstreek
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The Duin- en Bollenstreek is a region in the western Netherlands, that features coastal dunes and the cultivation of flower bulbs. The Dune and Bulb Region stretches from the area around the lower reaches of the Old Rhine west of Leiden to just south of Haarlem, since it is not a municipality or administrative region, the regions borders are not clearly defined. The Dune and Bulb Region proper is made up of the towns from Katwijk to Hillegom, officials consider six municipalities to be part of this region, Hillegom, Katwijk, Lisse, Noordwijk, Noordwijkerhout and Teylingen. However, towns just outside these boundaries also consider themselves to be part of this region, most of the towns in this area are in an administrative region called Holland Rijnland, a regional collaboration consisting of various municipalities in the Duin- en Bollenstreek and the Leiden area. This area is the part of a larger flower-growing area called the Bulb Region. However, it is not unusual for the Dune and Bulb Region itself to be referred to as the Bulb Region, the climate and soil of the region are excellent for bulb cultivation. Proximity to the sea results in an amount of rain. The mild autumn and winter, the cool but sunny spring, floriculture, the processing of bulbs for export, and other activities in the floral industry are major economic activities in this area. Bulb cultivation in this area began at the end of the 16th century, tulip mania in the early 17th century played a particularly important role in its development. The bulbs are planted in the autumn, the earth is covered with straw and packed down to help protect the bulbs from the frost. The flower season begins with the flowering of crocuses in March, followed at the end of March by the flowering of tulips, narcissus and hyacinths. In the autumn, a further display occurs when gladioli, dahlias, carnations and these flowers are often grown primarily for the bulb, not the flower. After they have bloomed, the flowers are decapitated, the flower may be used in floral wreaths. In the summer the bulbs are dug out and the plant remains are burned in the fields, the bulbs are sorted, the bulbs large enough to flower being sold and the smaller bulbs replanted. The bulbs are peeled, usually by students or foreign workers and they are then disinfected and dried out at a high temperature in huge bulb sheds, a characteristic building in this area. The bulbs are traded at auctions in Rijnsburg, Lisse and Aalsmeer. When the bulb fields are in bloom, this region is one of the most colourful in the world, keukenhof in particular attracts 850.000 to 1.000.000 visitors every year. The combination of flowers, windmills, quaint villages and Dutch charm is irresistible, the people in this area are in the flower business and make no apologies for it
4.
Haarlemmermeer
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Haarlemmermeer is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is a polder, consisting of land reclaimed from water, and it is one of the largest towns in the Netherlands whose name is not used as the name of a municipality. This town, together with the growing towns of Nieuw-Vennep and Badhoevedorp. The Netherlands main international airport Schiphol is located in Haarlemmermeer, the original Haarlemmer Lake is said to have been mostly a peat bog, a relic of a northern arm of the Rhine which passed through the district in Roman times. The four lakes were formed one by successive floods, with the Haarlemmermeer name being applied to the combined lake. One of those villages was Vennep, after which the modern Nieuw-Vennep was named, in Dutch, the tendency for lakes to grow over time is called the waterwolf. The waterwolf could be a place during storms. It claimed a victim on 7 January 1629, when Frederick Henry of the Palatinate, son and heir of Frederick V. By 1647 the new Haarlemmermeer had an area of about 150 square kilometres, in 1643, Jan Adriaanszoon Leeghwater proposed to dike and drain the lake. Similar schemes, among which those of Nicolaus Samuel Cruquius in 1742, first, a canal was dug around the lake, fittingly called Ringvaart, to carry the water drainage and boat and ship traffic which had previously gone across the lake. This canal was 61 kilometres long, and 2.40 metres deep, the area enclosed by the canal was more than 180 square kilometres, and the average depth of the lake 4 metres. As the water had no drainage, it was calculated that probably 1000 million tons would have to be raised by mechanical means. All of the pumping was done by steam mills, an innovation contrasting with the practice of draining polders using windmills. Three Cornish beam engines were imported from Hayle, the Leeghwater, the Cruquius, pumping began in 1848, and the lake was dry by July 1,1852,800 million tons were actually discharged. At the first sale of the highest lands along the banks on 16 August 1853, about 28 per acre was paid, the soil is of various kinds, loam, clay, sand, and peat. Most of it is enough, though in the lower portions there are barren patches where the scanty vegetation is covered with an ochreous deposit. Mineral springs occur containing a high percentage of common salt. In 1854, the city of Leiden laid claim to the possession of the new territory, Haarlemmermeer became incorporated as a municipality in the province of North Holland by law on July 16,1855
5.
Lisse
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Lisse is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of 16.05 km2 of which 0.36 km2 is water and its population was 22,400 in 2014. Located within the boundary is also the community De Engel. The history of Lisse is closely related and similar to the towns of Hillegom. In the Middle Ages, Lisse was a settlement, there were only 50 houses in 1500. Because of prolonged warfare, poverty was prevalent and its population lived from agriculture, animal husbandry, and peat harvesting. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Lisse was, like Hillegom, home to many estates of rich merchants, yet in the following centuries, every one of these estates was removed to make way for the cultivation of bulb flowers. The sandy soil in Lisses surroundings were highly suitable for its growth provided the soil was fertilized, the nearby dunes were excavated and forests cut down progressively over time for more fields for the flower business. This brought employment and prosperity to this area, in the 20th century, the bulb flower business continued to boom, resulting in the establishment of auction and trading houses, large-scale cultivators and cooperatives. Today, Lisse exports bulbflowers in large quantities to over a hundred countries worldwide, located at the centre of the Dune and Bulb Region, Hollands flower-growing region, Lisse is also a major tourist attraction. During the spring when the fields around Lisse are in a bloom, hundreds of thousands of local. Ironically, the remaining estate that was not removed for flower cultivation became world-famous for its flower displays. The most popular attraction in Lisse is Keukenhof, open only during spring when the tulips are flowering, also each spring a flower parade called the Bollenstreek Bloemencorso is held through the main streets of Lisse. In August the fantasy festival Castlefest is held in the gardens of Castle Keukenhof, on May 3,2008 FC Lisse sealed the championship of the 2007/2008 season in the Hoofdklasse A
6.
Abbey
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An abbey is a complex of buildings used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. It provides a place for activities, work and housing of Christian monks. The concept of the abbey has developed over centuries from the early monastic ways of religious men and women where they would live isolated from the lay community about them. Religious life in an abbey may be monastic, an abbey may be the home of an enclosed religious order or may be open to visitors. The layout of the church and associated buildings of an abbey often follows a set plan determined by the religious order. Abbeys are often self-sufficient while using any abundance of produce or skill to provide care to the poor and needy, some abbeys offer accommodation to people who are seeking spiritual retreat. There are many famous abbeys across Europe, the earliest known Christian monasteries were groups of huts built near the residence of a famous ascetic or other holy person. Disciples wished to be close to their man or woman in order to study their doctrine or imitate their way of life. In the earliest times of Christian monasticism, ascetics would live in social isolation and they would subsist whilst donating any excess produce to the poor. However, increasing religious fervor about the ways and or persecution of them would drive them further away from their community. For instance, the cells and huts of anchorites have been found in the deserts of Egypt, in 312 AD, Anthony the Great retired to the Thebaid region of Egypt to escape the persecution of the Emperor Maximian. Anthony was the best known of the anchorites of his due to his degree of austerity, sanctity. The deeper he withdrew into the wilderness, the more numerous his disciples became and they refused to be separated from him and built their cells close to him. This became a first true monastic community, Anthony, according to Johann August Wilhelm Neander, inadvertently became the founder of a new mode of living in common, Coenobitism. At Tabennae on the Nile, in Upper Egypt, Saint Pachomius laid the foundations for the life by arranging everything in an organized manner. He built several monasteries, each with about 1,600 separate cells laid out in lines and these cells formed an encampment where the monks slept and performed some of their manual tasks. There were nearby large halls such as the church, refectory, kitchen, infirmary, an enclosure protecting all these buildings gave the settlement the appearance of a walled village. This layout, known as the laurae, became popular throughout Palestine, as well as the laurae, communities known as caenobia developed
7.
Dune
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In physical geography, a dune is a hill of loose sand built by wind or the flow of water. Dunes occur in different shapes and sizes, formed by interaction with the flow of air or water, most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter slip face in the lee of the wind. The valley or trough between dunes is called a slack, a dune field is an area covered by extensive sand dunes. Dunes occur, for example, in deserts and along some coasts. Some coastal areas have one or more sets of dunes running parallel to the shoreline directly inland from the beach, in most cases, the dunes are important in protecting the land against potential ravages by storm waves from the sea. Although the most widely distributed dunes are those associated with coastal regions, Dunes can form under the action of water flow, and on sand or gravel beds of rivers, estuaries and the sea-bed. The modern word dune came into English from French c,1790, which in turn came from Middle Dutch dūne. Crescent-shaped mounds are generally wider than they are long, the slipfaces are on the concave sides of the dunes. These dunes form under winds that blow consistently from one direction, some types of crescentic dunes move more quickly over desert surfaces than any other type of dune. A group of dunes moved more than 100 metres per year between 1954 and 1959 in Chinas Ningxia Province, and similar speeds have been recorded in the Western Desert of Egypt. The largest crescentic dunes on Earth, with mean crest-to-crest widths of more than three kilometres, are in Chinas Taklamakan Desert. They may be composed of clay, silt, sand, or gypsum, eroded from the floor or shore, transported up the concave side of the dune. Examples in Australia are up to 6.5 km long,1 km wide and they also occur in southern and West Africa, and in parts of the western United States, especially Texas. Straight or slightly sinuous sand ridges typically much longer than they are wide are known as linear dunes and they may be more than 160 kilometres long. Some linear dunes merge to form Y-shaped compound dunes, many form in bidirectional wind regimes. The long axes of these dunes extend in the resultant direction of sand movement, linear loess hills known as pahas are superficially similar. These hills appear to have formed during the last ice age under permafrost conditions dominated by sparse tundra vegetation. Radially symmetrical, star dunes are pyramidal sand mounds with slipfaces on three or more arms that radiate from the center of the mound
8.
Haarlem
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Haarlem is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland and is situated at the edge of the Randstad. Haarlem had a population of 155,758 in 2014 and it is a 15-minute train ride from Amsterdam, and many residents commute to the countrys capital for work. Haarlem was granted city status or stadsrechten in 1245, although the first city walls were not built until 1270, the modern city encompasses the former municipality of Schoten as well as parts that previously belonged to Bloemendaal and Heemstede. Apart from the city, the municipality of Haarlem also includes the part of the village of Spaarndam. Newer sections of Spaarndam lie within the municipality of Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude. The city is located on the river Spaarne, about 20 km west of Amsterdam and it has been the historical centre of the tulip bulb-growing district for centuries and bears the nickname Bloemenstad, for this reason. Haarlem has a history dating back to pre-medieval times, as it lies on a thin strip of land above sea level known as the strandwal. The people on this strip of land struggled against the waters of the North Sea from the west, and the waters of the IJ. Haarlem became wealthy with toll revenues that it collected from ships, however, as shipping became increasingly important economically, the city of Amsterdam became the main Dutch city of North Holland during the Dutch Golden Age. The town of Halfweg became a suburb, and Haarlem became a bedroom community. Nowadays many of them are on the Dutch Heritage register known as Rijksmonuments, the list of Rijksmonuments in Haarlem gives an overview of these per neighbourhood, with the majority in the old city centre. The oldest mentioning of Haarlem dates from the 10th century, the name probably comes from Haarlo-heim. This name is composed of three elements, haar, lo and heim, there is not much dispute about the meaning of lo and heim, in Old Dutch toponyms lo always refers to forest and heim to home or house. Haar, however, has several meanings, one of them corresponding with the location of Haarlem on a sand dune, the name Haarlem or Haarloheim would therefore mean home on a forested dune. There was a stream called De Beek, dug from the peat grounds west of the river Spaarne as a drainage canal, over the centuries the Beek was turned into an underground canal, as the city grew larger and the space was needed for construction. Over time it began to silt up and in the 19th century it was filled in, the location of the village was a good one, by the river Spaarne, and by a major road going south to north. By the 12th century it was a town, and Haarlem became the residence of the Counts of Holland
9.
Abbot
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Abbot, meaning father, is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as a title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The word is derived from the Aramaic av meaning father or abba, in the Septuagint, it was written as abbas. At first it was employed as a title for any monk. The title abbot came into general use in western monastic orders whose members include priests. An abbot is the head and chief governor of a community of monks, the English version for a female monastic head is abbess. In Egypt, the first home of monasticism, the jurisdiction of the abbot, or archimandrite, was, sometimes he ruled over only one community, sometimes over several, each of which had its own abbot as well. Saint John Cassian speaks of an abbot of the Thebaid who had 500 monks under him, by the Rule of St Benedict, which, until the Cluniac reforms, was the norm in the West, the abbot has jurisdiction over only one community. Monks, as a rule, were laymen, nor at the outset was the abbot any exception, for the reception of the sacraments, and for other religious offices, the abbot and his monks were commanded to attend the nearest church. This rule proved inconvenient when a monastery was situated in a desert or at a distance from a city, the change spread more slowly in the West, where the office of abbot was commonly filled by laymen till the end of the 7th century. The ecclesiastical leadership exercised by abbots despite their frequent lay status is proved by their attendance, thus at the first Council of Constantinople, AD448,23 archimandrites or abbots sign, with 30 bishops. The second Council of Nicaea, AD787, recognized the right of abbots to ordain their monks to the inferior orders below the diaconate, abbots used to be subject to episcopal jurisdiction, and continued generally so, in fact, in the West till the 11th century. The Code of Justinian expressly subordinates the abbot to episcopal oversight, in the 12th century, the abbots of Fulda claimed precedence of the archbishop of Cologne. It has been maintained that the right to wear mitres was sometimes granted by the popes to abbots before the 11th century, but the documents on which this claim is based are not genuine. The first undoubted instance is the bull by which Alexander II in 1063 granted the use of the mitre to Egelsinus, abbot of the monastery of St Augustine at Canterbury. Of these the precedence was yielded to the abbot of Glastonbury, until in AD1154 Adrian IV granted it to the abbot of St Albans, next after the abbot of St Albans ranked the abbot of Westminster and then Ramsey. Of course, they always and everywhere had the power of admitting their own monks, the power of the abbot was paternal but absolute, limited, however, by the canon law. One of the goals of monasticism was the purgation of self and selfishness
10.
Egmond Abbey
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Founded in 920-925 and destroyed in the Reformation, it was re-founded in 1935 as the present Sint-Adelbertabdij, under the Diocese of Haarlem. The Benedictine abbey was founded by Dirk I, Count of Holland and it was a nunnery that, according to local tradition, had been there since Saints Adalbert and Willibrord landed in 760. In about 950 work began on a church to replace by the wooden one, as a gift from Dirk II, Count of Holland. The consecration of the new church took place in or shortly after 975. This was the oldest monastery of the Holland region. Dirk I, the founder, was buried there, as were many subsequent counts of Holland and members of their families, including Dirk II, Arnulf, Count of Holland, Dirk III, Floris I, Dirk V, and Floris II. The Count Lamoral, owner of the castle, was beheaded in 1568. Shortly afterwards, in 1573, the abbey was dissolved and laid waste just before the siege of Alkmaar on the orders of Diederik Sonoy to prevent it being used by the Spanish. The abbeys income was diverted by the stadtholder to the financing of his educational project, north of the abbey is the site of Egmond Castle in Egmond aan den Hoef. The castle was built by the knight Berwout van Egmond in 1129 and this was the origin of the House of Egmond. The relationship quickly turned into a struggle between the Egmond family and the abbots that lasted for centuries. Just like the abbey, the castle was destroyed in 1573, the chapel was later restored by the Dutch Protestant church, but the castle was never rebuilt. The foundations are visible and the land surrounding the old moat. In 1933 a new Benedictine community, the Sint-Adelbertabdij, was founded on the site of the former Egmond Abbey, the first buildings, designed by Alexander Kropholler were constructed in 1935. and the community was repopulated with monks. Buildings were refurbished and extended in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the farmlands were put back to use, though since 1989 however the agricultural lands have been let to a farmer since the monks were no longer able to do the heavy farmwork. A candle-making operation was started in 1945 to support the community, in 1984 the relics of Saint Adalbert were returned here, having been kept safe in Haarlem since the destruction of the previous monastery in the 16th century, and are enshrined beneath the altar. In the spring of 2003 the monks had solar panels installed which were promptly stolen two weeks later, a loss of E20,000, an online collection was held to help pay for new panels. In recent decades the current monastery has been able to recover many lost relics, the old abbey had been of great importance to artists, and much of that art has survived, against all odds
11.
Bulb
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In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf bases that function as food storage organs during dormancy. A bulbs leaf bases, also known as scales, generally do not support leaves, at the center of the bulb is a vegetative growing point or an unexpanded flowering shoot. The base is formed by a stem, and plant growth occurs from this basal plate. Roots emerge from the underside of the base, and new stems, tunicate bulbs have dry, membranous outer scales that protect the continuous lamina of fleshy scales. Species in the genera Allium, Hippeastrum, Narcissus, and Tulipa all have tunicate bulbs, non-tunicate bulbs, such as Lilium and Fritillaria species, lack the protective tunic and have looser scales. The technical term geophyte encompasses plants that form underground organs, including bulbs as well as tubers. Some epiphytic orchids form above-ground storage organs called pseudobulbs, that superficially resemble bulbs, nearly all plants that form true bulbs are monocotyledons, and include, Amaryllis, Crinum, Hippeastrum, Narcissus, and several other members of the amaryllis family Amaryllidaceae. This includes onion, garlic, and other alliums, members of the Amaryllid subfamily Allioideae, lily, tulip, and many other members of the lily family Liliaceae. Two groups of Iris species, family Iridaceae, subgenus Xiphium, oxalis, in the family Oxalidaceae, is the only dicotyledon genus that produces true bulbs. Bulbous plant species cycle through vegetative and reproductive stages, the bulb grows to flowering size during the vegetative stage. Certain environmental conditions are needed to trigger the transition from one stage to the next, bulbs dug up before the foliage period is completed will not bloom the following year but then should flower normally in subsequent years. After the foliage period is completed, bulbs may be dug up for replanting elsewhere, any surface moisture should be dried, then the bulbs may be stored up to about 4 months for a fall planting. Storing them much longer than that may cause the bulbs to dry out inside, a bulbil is a small bulb, and may also be called a bulblet, bulbet, or bulbel. Small bulbs can develop or propagate a large bulb, if one or several moderate-sized bulbs form to replace the original bulb, they are called renewal bulbs. Increase bulbs are small bulbs that develop either on each of the leaves inside a bulb, some lilies, such as the tiger lily Lilium lancifolium, form small bulbs, called bulbils, in their leaf axils. Several members of the family, Alliaceae, including Allium sativum, form bulbils in their flower heads, sometimes as the flowers fade. The so-called tree onion forms small onions which are enough for pickling. Some ferns, such as Hen and Chicken Fern produce new plants at the tips of the fronds pinnae, coccoris, Patricia The Curious History of the Bulb Vase
12.
Seat of local government
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In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre, a guildhall, a Rathaus, or a municipal building, is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city or town council, its associated departments and it also usually functions as the base of the mayor of a city, town, borough, or county / shire. By convention, until the mid 19th-century, a large open chamber formed an integral part of the building housing the council. The hall may be used for meetings and other significant events. This large chamber, the hall, has become synonymous with the whole building. The terms council chambers, municipal building or variants may be used locally in preference to town hall if no such large hall is present within the building, the local government may endeavor to use the town hall building to promote and enhance the quality of life of the community. In many cases, town halls serve not only as buildings for government functions and these may include art shows, stage performances, exhibits and festivals. Modern town halls or civic centres are designed with a great variety and flexibility of purpose in mind. As symbols of government, city and town halls have distinctive architecture. City hall buildings may also serve as icons that symbolize their cities. The term town hall may be a one, often applied without regard to whether the building serves or served a town or a city. This is generally the case in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, english-speakers in some regions use the term city hall to designate the council offices of a municipality of city status. This is the case in North America, where a distinction is made between city halls and town halls, and is also the case with Brisbane City Hall in Australia. The great hall of the town-house or municipal building, now commonly applied to the whole building city hall. Conversely, cities that have subdivisions with their own councils may have borough halls, in Scotland, local government in larger cities operates from the City Chambers, otherwise the Town House. Elsewhere in English-speaking countries, other names are occasionally used, in London, the official headquarters of administration of the City of London retains its Anglo-Saxon name, the Guildhall, signifying a place where taxes were paid. In a small number of English cities the preferred term is Council House, this was also the case in Bristol until 2012, when the building was renamed City Hall. In Birmingham, there is a distinction between the Council House, the seat of government, and the Town Hall, a concert
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pronunciation (help·info)) is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of 13.48 km2 (5.20 sq mi) of which 0.56 km2 (0.22 sq mi) is water. Hillegom is part of an area called the Duin- en Bollenstreek ("Dune and Bulb Region"). As such, a large portion of the local economy was traditionally geared to the cultivation of bulb flowers. It is bordered by the municipalities of Bloemendaal, Bennebroek (to the north), Haarlemmermeer (to the east), Lisse (to the south), and Noordwijkerhout (to the west).
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Hillegom
