Arnhem

Arnhem is a municipality and a city in the east of the Netherlands, located on the Lower Rhine and the capital of the Gelderland province.

The city of Arnhem

The old city hall

History

Arnhem, first mentioned in 893 as Arnoldi Villa had its real origins in 1233 when Otto II, count of Guelders, conferred city rights on the town, which had belonged to the abbey of Prum, 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 Spaniards; in 1543 it fell to the emperor Charles V. It joined the Union of Utrecht in 1579, and came finally under the effective government of the Estates-General in 1585. The French occupied the town 1672 - 1674 and dismantled its strong fortifications; the Sabelspoort (Sabresgate) is the only remaining part of a medieval gate. In 1795 - 1813 it was reoccupied by the French, this time Revolutionary and Imperial. In the 19th century Arnhem was a genteel resort town famous for its picturesque beauty. The John Frost Bridge, seen from the memoria.l 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 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 dramatised in the movie A Bridge Too Far. As a tribute, the bridge has been renamed John Frost-bridge after the commander of the paratroopers. The official commemoration is September 16. (Actually, the movie was 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) Arnhem is twinned with the London Borough of Croydon.

Places of interest

The Groote Kerk (St. Eusebius), built 1452 - 1560, lost its tower during World War II, which has been reconstucted to a modern design and opened in 1964. The palace of Maarten van Rossum, Duke Charles van Gelre's general, has been the town hall since 1830: the satyrs in its Renaissance ornamentation earned for it the name Duivelshuis ("devil's house"). The John Frost Brug is the bridge reconstructed after WWII on the site of the original "Bridge Too Far" destroyed during the war. The Openluchtmuseum, an open air museum and park with antique houses, farms and factories from different parts of the Netherlands. Burger's zoo.

Constructions

Notable people

Arnhem was the birthplace of physicist and Nobel prize laureate Hendrik Lorentz. Here the English poet Sir Philip Sidney died in 1586.

Transport

Arnhem has an electric trolleybus system, the only one in the country.

Population centres

Trivia

"Arnhem" is also a march composed by A.E. Kelly. Category:Gelderland Category:Cities in the Netherlands Category:Municipalities in the Netherlands bg:Арнхем ca:Arnhem de:Arnheim eo:Arnhem gl:Arnhem id:Arnhem it:Arnhem li:Arnem nl:Arnhem ja:アーネム pl:Arnhem ro:Arnhem simple:Arnhem sv:Arnhem

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