Apeldoorn

Apeldoorn is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland, about 60 miles south east of Amsterdam, in the centre of the Netherlands. It is a regional centre. The municipality of Apeldoorn, including villages like Beekbergen, Loenen and Hoenderloo, has over 155,000 inhabitants (2011). 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.

Population centres
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.

The city of Apeldoorn
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.

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). The younger sister of the Dutch Queen, 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. The Protestant church was restored after a fire in 1890. 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 80,000 people working in the region, 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) and the Netherlands Police Academy.

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, offering secondary health care to Apeldoorn and the surrounding towns.

Apeldoorn railway station is the terminus for the Veluwse Stoomtrein Maatschappij, a preserved steam railway that runs to Dieren via Beekbergen.

In April 2009 Apeldoorn was 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 city's liberation in World War II.

Transport
There are three railway stations in Apeldoorn, these are:


 * Apeldoorn
 * Apeldoorn De Maten
 * Apeldoorn Osseveld

Bus services in the city are provided by Syntus.

Local businesses

 * 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

Sport
Apeldoorn houses the professional football club AGOVV Apeldoorn (Eerste Divisie), that plays its matches in the Sportpark Berg & Bos stadium in the western part of Apeldoorn. But the most successful club in Apeldoorn is the SV Dynamo volleyball team, who are the 12-fold and reigning (2010) champion in the Dutch A-League. Because of the immense growth of Apeldoorn, and the population's interest in sports, Apeldoorn has built a new stadium for volleyball, indoor athletics and track cycling: Omnisport Apeldoorn. Omnisport Apeldoorn was host of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in March 2011.

Famous inhabitants

 * Joop Braakhekke, chef
 * Stephan Brenninkmeijer, director, producer
 * Jaime Bruinier, footballer
 * Bas van de Goor, Volleyball player
 * Piet de Jong, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands
 * Jan Kromkamp, footballer
 * Gert-Jan Liefers, athlete
 * Arend Lijphart
 * Wilhelm Röntgen, scientist
 * Ronnie Tober, singer
 * Theun de Vries, author
 * Waylon, singer
 * Julius Wille, footballer
 * Uğur Yıldırım, footballer
 * Demy de Zeeuw, footballer

Royal Family

 * King Willem III
 * Queen Wilhelmina
 * Princess Margriet
 * Prof. Mr. Pieter van Vollenhoven

House of Orange-Nassau
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 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 Britain 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.

2009 car attack
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.

The driver hit members of the public lining the street leaving twenty-two injured and eight dead, including 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.

Sister City

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