Nuenen

Nuenen
Town

Nuenen, windmill: de Roosdonck
Nuenen

Location in North Brabant in the Netherlands

Coordinates: 51°28′24″N 5°32′48″E / 51.47333°N 5.54667°E / 51.47333; 5.54667
Country Netherlands
Province North Brabant
Municipality Nuenen, Gerwen en Nederwetten
Population (December 30 2009) 22,437

Nuenen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈnynə(n)]) is a town in the municipality of Nuenen, Gerwen en Nederwetten in the Netherlands. From 1883 to 1885, Vincent van Gogh lived and worked in Nuenen. In 1944, the town was a battle scene during Operation Market Garden. The local dialect is called Peellands. In 2009, Nuenen had a population of 22,437.

History

Nuenen was the scene of a battle of the 101st Airborne Division and 44th Royal Tank Regiment during Operation Market Garden on September 20, 1944, depicted in episode 4 of the television series Band of Brothers. The 101st Airborne Division did fight in Nuenen, although the story was dramatised for the television series. The casualties were two Germans, two British tanks, four American soldiers, and three British soldiers.

Dialect

The spoken language is Peellands (an East Brabantian dialect, which is very similar to colloquial Dutch).[1]

Notable residents

Vincent van Gogh resided in Nuenen from 1883 to 1885. During that time he painted many character studies of peasants and weavers that culminated in The Potato Eaters. He also made paintings of still life and his father's church, vicarage and its garden, including Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen (Het uitgaan van de hervormde kerk te Nuenen) which was stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in December 2002. There is a street named after it in the town, as well as a cafe, college and bar. A statue of Van Gogh is located in the central park of the town.

Edsger W. Dijkstra died in Nuenen on 6 August 2002 after a long struggle with cancer. The following year, the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) PODC Influential Paper Award in distributed computing was renamed the Dijkstra Prize in his honor.

Media

Episode Four of TV WWII Miniseries Band of Brothers is partly set in Nuenen.

References

  1. Jos & Cor Swanenberg: Taal in stad en land: Oost-Brabants, ISBN 9012090105

External links

Coordinates: 51°28′N 5°33′E / 51.467°N 5.550°E / 51.467; 5.550

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