Vlaardingen


Vlaardingen is a city in South Holland in the Netherlands. It is located on the north bank of the Nieuwe Maas river at the confluence with the Oude Maas. The municipality administers an area of, of which is land, with residents in.

Geography

The city is divided into a northern and a southern part by the A20 motorway. On the east the city is separated from Schiedam by the A4 motorway. Other places nearby are Maassluis to the west, Schipluiden and Delft to the north, Schiedam and Rotterdam to the east and Spijkenisse in the south-west, on the other side of the Nieuwe Maas. The A20 connects Rotterdam to Hoek van Holland. The :File:Beneluxtunnel zz c tm e.jpg|Beneluxtunnel connects the A20 to the A15.
The centre of the town is on the west side of the old harbour, which is originally a stream from the peat lands north and east of the town, running to the Meuse estuary.

History

The area around Vlaardingen was already settled by about 2900 to 2600 BC. In 1990, a skeleton dated at about 1300 BC was dug up in the periphery of Vlaardingen; some human nuclear DNA was identified, the oldest found anywhere in the Netherlands. Although in the Roman Age a stronghold or maybe even a vicus Flenio must have been found in nowadays Vlaardingen, between roughly 250 CE and 700 CE the region seems to have been uninhabited, like much of the west of the Netherlands. In 726 or 727 the area is again mentioned as In Pagio Marsum, where a little church was established, around which Vlaardingen formed. The church is mentioned on a list of churches Willibrord, the Apostle to the Frisians, inhered to the Abbey of Echternach.
In 1018 Vlaardingen was a stronghold of Dirk III, who levied an illegal toll on ships on the Meuse river. An army sent by German Emperor Henry II in order to stop this practice was defeated by Dirk III in the Battle of Vlaardingen. In 1047, his successor Dirk IV repelled another such attack. The first of these battles was commemorated in 2018 by a historical reenactment
The flood disaster of December 21, 1163, ended the growth of Vlaardingen. The Counts of Holland moved away and its development stagnated.
It is known that in 1273 Vlaardingen was granted city rights by Floris V, Count of Holland. Older city rights are possible, but not provable.
In 1574, during the Eighty Years War of Dutch independence, a group of Watergeuzen burnt down Vlaardingen as commanded by William of Orange to prevent the Spanish from capturing the town. Vlaardingen later became a shipbuilding area and a significant harbour for the herring fishing industry. The fishing boats ceased to use Vlaardingen in the years after World War II.
In 1855 the former municipality of Zouteveen was merged into the municipality Vlaardingerambacht which in turn was merged with Vlaardingen during the occupation of the Netherlands in the Second World War by the Germans in 1941.
Because of the industrialization in and close to Vlaardingen, the city suffered from heavy air pollution and, sometimes, pathogenic smog during the 1970s. One day, a high school had to be closed because of the smog. Many environmental groups arose in and around Vlaardingen as it was seen as one of the most polluted cities of the country.
Vlaardingen consists of 8 districts/neighbourhoods:
  1. Vlaardingen Centrum
  2. Westwijk
  3. Vettenoordse polder
  4. Vlaardingen Oost
  5. Ambacht/Babberspolder
  6. Holy Zuid
  7. Holy Noord
  8. Broekpolder

    Politics

Mayor:
Seats in the city council after the municipal elections in 2010:
A Unilever research centre is located in Vlaardingen. There are still some ship repair business in Eastern Vlaardingen beside the Nieuwe Maas River. The was for many years the largest privately owned artificial harbour in the world. The last major herring factory, Warmelo & Van Der Drift, left Vlaardingen in the middle of 2012 to relocate to Katwijk aan Zee. There are still some ferry terminals.

Attractions

Monuments

Historical buildings in the town include the Grote Kerk, the Waag next to the church and the old town hall, all on the Markt, the former marketplace, the Visbank at the harbour and the Oude Lijnbaan windmill, which operates and sells ground cereals. The harbour is a marina and open-air museum with old ships. At the harbour is the , a museum dedicated to commercial sea fishing and lore. A war memorial to the crew of a Wellington bomber from No. 142 Squadron RAF killed when it was shot down over Vlaardingen in March 1942 has been erected in Wijkpark Holy-Noord in June 2012.
On Emaus Cemetery in Vlaardinger Ambacht six members of the resistance group "Geuzen" are buried. They were executed in March 1941. Nine adjacent headstones are symbolic for nine other members of the "Geuzen" who were also executed and buried elsewhere.

Events

The "Vlaardings Loggerfestival" is held on the first Saturday of June. The festival used to be called "Haring en Bierfeest", but in 2003 the mayor decided to rename it. In 2015, the name "Haring en Bierfeest" reappeared again.
Since 1987, the Geuzenpenning is an award that is yearly bestowed by a local foundation in cooperation with the town's municipality to human rights activists from all over the world.

Notable residents

People who are born in or lived in Vlaardingen:

Counts of Holland

Public thinking & Public Service

The Arts

Science & Business

Gallery