| Tilburg | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| — Municipality — | |||
| Sint Jozefkerk (Saint Joseph Church) or Heuvelse kerk (Hill Church) | |||
|
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| Location of Tilburg | |||
| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | Netherlands | ||
| Province | North Brabant | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Peter Noordanus (PvdA) | ||
| • Aldermen | Jan Hamming (PvdA) Berend de Vries (D66) Roel Lauwerier (VVD) Marjo Frenk (GL) Joost Möller (VVD) Marieke Moorman (PvdA) Erik de Ridder (CDA) |
||
| Area(2009) | |||
| • Total | 119.15 km2 (46 sq mi) | ||
| • Land | 117.30 km2 (45.3 sq mi) | ||
| • Water | 1.85 km2 (0.7 sq mi) | ||
| Population (31 May 2009)Source: CBS, Statline. |
|||
| • Total | 203,492 | ||
| • Density | 1,723/km2 (4,462.5/sq mi) | ||
| • Demonym | Tilburger | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Postcodes | 5000–5049, 5056, 5070, 5071 | ||
| Area code(s) | 013 | ||
| Website | www.tilburg.nl | ||
Tilburg (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈtɪl.ˌbʏrx]) () is a landlocked municipality and a city in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of Noord-Brabant. Tilburg municipality also includes the villages of Berkel-Enschot and Udenhout.
Tilburg University is located in Tilburg, as are Avans University of Applied Sciences and Fontys University of Applied Sciences.
A 10 day-long funfair,[1] the largest of the Benelux, is held in July each year. The Monday during the funfair is called "Roze Maandag" (Pink Monday), and is primarely gay-oriented, though also enjoyed by many heterosexuals.
There are three railway stations within the municipality: Tilburg, Tilburg Universiteit and Tilburg Reeshof.
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Little is known about the earliest history of Tilburg. Documents from the year 709 show the name Tilburg for the first time. After that, sources remain silent for some centuries. In the later Middle Ages, Tilburg was more of a local 'region' than a village or city, although a couple of small hamlets provided its population centers, one of which was known as 'Eastern Tilburg' (Oost-Tilburg), which was later reflected in the name of Oisterwijk ('Eastern Quarter'). This village centered around a small (probably wooden) castle or 'Motteburcht' on an equally small hill, which became derelict and was torn down after a few centuries at most. Of this first 'Tilburg Castle', nothing remained ca 2000, save a few remnants of its moat in the suburbs of Oisterwijk. In the 14th century, Tilburg was proclaimed a manor. Together with Goirle, it acquired the title of "The Manor of Tilburg and Goirle".
Successively, the manorial rights fell into the hands of several lords of noble lineage. They derived their income from taxes, fines and interest paid by the villagers.
In the 15th century, one of the lords of Tilburg, Jan van Haestrecht, built Tilburg Castle. "That stone chamber at Hasselt" is mentioned in several historical documents. In 1858, however, the castle had to make way for a factory. It lives on, however, in the city arms and logo. A replica of the fundaments of the castle was restored in ca. 1995 on its original location, after the factory was demolished. In 1803, Goirle was separated from Tilburg and on April 18, 1809, Tilburg was granted city status. In that year, it had about 9,000 inhabitants. Tilburg hosted several festivities in 2009 in celebration of 200 years' status as a city.
Tilburg grew around one of the so-called "herd places", three-cornered plots where a number of roads (usually sand roads) met. These herd places were collective pasturelands for flocks of sheep. Their triangular shape is still reflected in the layout of many places in Tilburg. Many districts – such as Korvel, Oerle, Broekhoven, Hasselt, Heikant, De Schans and Heuvel – bear the names of these old hamlets.
The poor farmers living in these hamlets soon decided to stop selling the wool of the sheep and to weave it themselves. For a long time a greater part of the space in their houses, which used to be very small, was occupied by a loom. In the 17th century the number of looms in Tilburg was about 300. Enterprising people saw their chance. As so-called drapers they supplied the weavers with the raw materials for their "home working". The first Tilburg "millhouses" had come into existence. From that point on, the wool- industry underwent rapid growth and in 1881 Tilburg had as many as 145 woolmills. Home weaving continued, however, until the early years of the 20th century. Woolen textiles from Tilburg were known far and wide. After the Second World War, Tilburg retained its place as wool capital of the Netherlands, but in the 1960s the industry collapsed and by the 1980s the number of woolmills could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Present-day Tilburg industry is characterized by a large variety of enterprises. The main economic sector has become transport & logistics, with a variety of industry as a good second.
King William II (1792–1849) always bore a warm heart towards Tilburg. "Here I can breathe freely and I feel happy", he once said about the town. And he acted accordingly. King William II always supported Tilburg, also in a financial way. He improved the sheep breeding, built new farms and founded a cavalry barracks on the St. Joseph Street, now the imposing building of the City Archives. Although the King was always received with open arms by several befriended manufacturers, he needed his own residence in Tilburg. He commissioned the construction of a palace which should function as a a country residence. The construction started in 1847 and was finished in 1849.
William II died a few days before the completion of his palace. It is now part of the City Hall of Tilburg. In 1987, close to the palace, an obelisk was erected, in remembrance of King William II. It replaced the old needle from 1874, which disappeared from the street scene in 1968. After being restored, William II's statue has got a place again in the heart of the city, where he felt happy among its inhabitants. The local football club Willem II Tilburg was named after the king.
Higher Education is of significant importance, with Tilburg University attracting scholars from all over the world. Tilburg University has a student population of about 13,000 students, about 8 per cent of whom are international students.[2] This percentage has steadily increased over the past years.[3] TU offers both Dutch-taught and English-taught programmes. The Tilburg School of Economics and Management (founded in 1927) is the oldest and largest faculty. The other four faculties – Law (1963), Social and Behavioural Sciences (1963), Philosophy and Theology (1967), Arts (1981) – were founded more recently. In addition to these faculties, Tilburg University has a number of research centers and graduate schools, including TiasNimbas Business School.
Tilburg experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) similar to almost all of the Netherlands.
| Climate data for Tilburg | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 5 (41) |
6 (43) |
9 (48) |
13 (55) |
17 (63) |
20 (68) |
22 (72) |
22 (72) |
19 (66) |
15 (59) |
9 (48) |
6 (43) |
14 (57) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −1 (30) |
−1 (30) |
1 (34) |
3 (37) |
7 (45) |
10 (50) |
12 (54) |
12 (54) |
9 (48) |
7 (45) |
3 (37) |
1 (34) |
5 (41) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 69 (2.7) |
48 (1.9) |
66 (2.6) |
53 (2.1) |
61 (2.4) |
71 (2.8) |
76 (3.0) |
71 (2.8) |
66 (2.6) |
74 (2.9) |
81 (3.2) |
84 (3.3) |
820 (32.3) |
| Source: [4] | |||||||||||||
The economy was concentrated on wool industry for centuries, however, since the 1960s, Tilburg makes more progress in having different kinds of industries. The most known are the insurance companies like Interpolis and CZ, and the transportation/distribution industries situated in Tilburg as the geographical center of the Benelux-countries.
Iris Ohyama has its European offices in Tilburg.[5]
The city of Tilburg hosts many festivals, such as the Festival Mundial (world culture), Stranger Than Paranoia (jazz), Incubate (formerly known as ZXZW), Tilburg Students Festival, and Roadburn Festival. 013 is a modern popcentre, in a specially desgned building by Mels Crouwel, where artists like Nick Cave, Jerry Lee Lewis, Blasters and Salif Keita performed. Also Paradox is an interesting place, for experimental jazz and improvised music. Fontys University of Applied Sciences started a popacademy in the beginning of the 21st century, students often perform on local stages.
Tilburg has an outstanding museum of Modern Art - De Pont Foundation. There is a large textile museum, offering not only a historical view in its former factory, but also a laboratorium for design, production and development of textile as a material. Another museum is Noordbrabants Natuurmuseum.
The local football team, Willem II played in the Eredivisie but not any more. (Dutch Premier League), and are themselves named in remembrance of King William II.
Tilburg Ten Miles is an annual road running competition held in Tilburg.
The Hockey team Tilburg Trappers also does well in the Dutch eredivisie (Dutch Premier League).
Students sports like rowing and hockey are popular as well. Tilburg hosts three field hockey clubs that play in top national leagues.
Tilburg is connected by only one national motorway, the A58 (to Breda and Eindhoven). Other important roads include: The N65 (to 's-Hertogenbosch) and the A/N261 (to Waalwijk). Tilburg has three railway stations: Tilburg (Centraal), Tilburg Universiteit and Tilburg Reeshof.
Tilburg is twinned with:
Media related to Tilburg at Wikimedia Commons