Monnickendam

Monnickendam (usually Monnikendam in English) is a city in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Waterland, and lies on the coast of the IJsselmeer, about 8 km southeast of Purmerend. It received city rights in 1355 and suffered a lot of damage during the fires of 1500 and 1513.

Monnikendam was also the name of a number of warships - mainly built at the port of that name - during the Anglo-Dutch Wars.

Monnickendam was a separate municipality until 1991, when it was merged into Waterland. Although it is a small fishing village today, it was an important port in earlier centuries. It possesses a seventeenth-century weigh house, once used by merchants and port officials, and a bell tower that dates from 1591. The fourteenth century church of St. Nicholas, renovated in 1602, is particularly notable. The synagogue was built in 1894. Jewish families named Monnikendam trace their roots to this town.

The town was the site of an artist's colony in the early twentieth century.

In 2001, the town of Monnickendam had 9,546 inhabitants. The built-up area of the town was 1.34 km², and contained 3,766 residences. The wider statistical area of Monnickendam has a population of around 9,680.

Notable people associated with Monnickendam

 * Cornelis Dirkszoon, mayor during the 80-year war.
 * Hermann Jung (about 1608–1678) famous Lutheran theologian and preacher in Monnickendam. Born probably at Brokreihe(-Nord) near Hodorf (Holstein) around 1608. Friend of Jan Amos Comenius and a correspondent of Philipp Jakob Spener, Hermann Jung developed himself from a preacher of the small Lutheran community in Monnickendam to an important representative of early Lutheran pietism in the Netherlands.
 * Wendelmoet Claesdochter, first female martyr during the reformation. Condemned to death by fire in 1527 in The Hague.
 * Simon Lambrechtszoon Mau, captain of the "Duyfken", joining the first expedition to the Dutch Indies, using the route "Om de Zuid", around Africa.