Eindhoven

Details

Category: North Brabant - places to visit

Eindhoven is a municipality and a city located in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, originally at the confluence of the Dommel and Gender streams.

The Gender was dammed short of the city centre in the 1950s but the Dommel still runs through the city. The city had 218,559 inhabitants (November 2012) and 261,082 if adjacent Veldhoven is included, making it the fifth-largest city of the Netherlands and the largest of North Brabant.

History
The name Eindhoven derives from the contraction of the regional words eind (meaning last or end) and hove (or hoeve; a section of some 14 hectares of land). "Eind" is toponymically a common prefix and postfix in local place- and streetnames. A "hove" was a parcel of land that might be given in leasehold to private persons such as farmers by the local lord. Taken in conjunction with the fact that a string of such parcels existed around Woensel, the original location of Eindhoven may be understood to be the "last hove on the land of Woensel".

The written history of Eindhoven started in 1232, when Duke Hendrik I of Brabant granted city rights to Endehoven, then a small town right on the confluence of the Dommel and Gender streams. At the time of granting of its charter, Eindhoven had approximately 170 houses enclosed by a rampart. Just outside of the city walls stood a small castle. The city was also granted the right to organize a weekly market and the farmers in nearby villages were obliged to come to Eindhoven to sell their produce. Another factor in its establishment was its location on the trade route from Holland to Liège.

Around 1388, the city's fortifications were strengthened further. And between 1413 and 1420, a new castle was built within the city walls. In 1486, Eindhoven was plundered and burned by troops from Guelders. The reconstruction was finished in 1502, with a stronger rampart and a new castle. However, in 1543 Eindhoven fell again: its defense works having been neglected due to poverty.

A big fire in 1554 destroyed 75% of the houses but by 1560 these had been rebuilt with the help of William I of Orange. During the Dutch Revolt, Eindhoven changed hands between the Dutch and the Spanish several times during which it was burned down by renegade Spanish soldiers, until finally in 1583 it was captured once more by Spanish troops and its city walls were demolished. Eindhoven did not become part of the Netherlands until 1629. During the French occupation, Eindhoven suffered again with many of its houses destroyed by the invading forces. Eindhoven remained a minor city after that until the start of the industrial revolution.

The industrial revolution of the 19th century provided a major growth impulse. Canals, roads and railroads were constructed. Eindhoven was connected to the major Zuid-Willemsvaart canal through the Eindhovens Kanaal branch in 1843 and was connected by rail to Tilburg, 's-Hertogenbosch, Venlo and Belgium between 1866 and 1870. Industrial activities initially centred around tobacco and textile and boomed with the rise of lighting and electronics giant Philips, which was founded as a light bulb manufacturing company in Eindhoven in 1891.

Industrialization brought population growth to Eindhoven. At the establishment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, Eindhoven had 2.310 inhabitants. By 1920, it was 47.946; by 1925 it was 63.870 and in 1935 that had ballooned to 103.030.[2] The explosive growth of industry in the region and the subsequent housing needs of workers called for radical changes in administration, as the City of Eindhoven was still confined to its medieval moat city limits. In 1920, the five neighbouring municipalities of Woensel (to the north), Tongelre (northeast and east), Stratum (southeast), Gestel en Blaarthem (southwest) and Strijp (west), which already bore the brunt of the housing needs and related problems, were incorporated into the new Groot-Eindhoven ("Greater Eindhoven") municipality. The prefix "Groot-" was later dropped.

After the incorporation of 1920, the five former municipalities became districts of the Municipality of Eindhoven, with Eindhoven-Centrum (the City proper) forming the sixth. Since then, an additional seventh district has been formed by dividing the largest district, that of Woensel, into Woensel-Zuid and Woensel-Noord.

The early 20th century saw additions in technical industry with the advent of car and truck manufacturing company Van Doorne's Automobiel Fabriek (DAF) and the subsequent shift towards electronics and engineering, with the traditional tobacco and textile industries waning and finally disappearing in the 1970s.

Museums
*  The Centrum Kunstlicht in de Kunst (next door to the lightbulb museum) takes a more general look at lighting as an art form. The museum is scheduled to close on 5 December, due to loss of funding.[21]
*  There are two museums dedicated to the major topics of the city's industrial heritage: the DAF Museum has a collection of DAF cars and the Philips Gloeilampenfabriekje anno 1891 (across the street from the Kempenland) documents the early lightbulb industry.
*  The former district court house now houses the Designhuis, a public podium and interaction area for modern design and innovation.
*  The Historisch Openluchtmuseum Eindhoven is an open air, archeological museum which focuses on the region's Iron Age and Middle Ages.
*  Finally, the Inkijkmuseum (the Look-In museum; housed in an old linen factory in the Dommelstraat) is a small but special museum: it offers ever-changing exhibits, which are to be viewed through the building's windows.
*  The Museum Kempenland is a regional museum, which documents the history of the Kempenland region in objects, documents, paint and educational activities.
*  The Van Abbemuseum has a collection of modern and contemporary art, including works by Picasso, Kandinsky, Mondriaan and Chagall.

Eindhoven was home to the Evoluon science museum, sponsored by Philips. The Evoluon building has evolved into a conference centre.

Recreation
Eindhoven has a lively recreational scene. For going out, there are numerous bars on the Market square, Stratumseind (Stratum's End), Dommelstraat, Wilhelmina square and throughout the rest of the city. In addition to the more culturally oriented Plaza Futura, there are two cinemas in the centre of town ("Servicebioscoop Zien" and the Pathé Eindhoven, which offers THX sound, IMAX screens and 3D movie viewing).

Eindhoven also hosts a large number of cultural and entertainment-oriented festivals. The biggest festivals in Eindhoven are:

*  ABlive, popfestival (September)
*  Carnaval, (February)
*  Koninginnedag, national day (30 April)
*  Muziek op de Dommel, classical music festival (June)
*  EDIT, festival (June)
*  Fiesta del Sol, street- and music acts (June)
*  UCI ProTour – Eindhoven Team Time Trial, international cycling tour (June)
*  Virus Festival, alternative music festival (last edition in 2007, inactive at the moment)
*  Park Hilaria, fun fair (August)
*  Folkwoods, folk festival (August)
*  Reggae Sundance, reggae festival (August)
*  Lichtjesroute, 15-mile-tour of light ornaments, commemorating the liberation of Eindhoven (from 18 September)
*  Marathon Eindhoven, (October)
*  Dutch Design Week, international school festival (October)
*  Glow: Forum of Art and Light in Architecture, (November)
*  TROMP international music competition & Festival, international classical music competition & festival (15–23 November 2008: String Quartet, Nov 2010: Percussion)
*  STRP Festival, art & technology festival (23–25 November 2007)