Roermond and Munsterkerk

Details

Category: Limburg - places to visit...

Roermond, a municipality, and a diocese in the southeastern part of the Netherlands. The city of Roermond is a historically important town, on the lower Roer at the east bank of the Meuse river.

It received city rights in 1231. Roermond town centre has been designated as a conservation area.

Through the centuries the town has filled the role of commercial centre, principal town in the duchy of Guelders and since 1559 it has served as the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Roermond. The skyline of the historic town is dominated by the towers of its two churches: St. Christopher Cathedral and Roermond Minster or 'Munsterkerk' in Dutch. In addition to important churches, the town centre has many listed buildings and monuments.

Main sights
Roermond's old city centre is home to several historic monuments, including:

    Minster church (Munsterkerk)
    Stateroom of city hall
    The old cemetery
    Kapel in 't Zand
    Roermond City Hall
    St. Christopher Cathedral
    Carolus chapel
    National Indiëmonument
    Kasteeltje Hattem
    Rattentoren
    The Galgeberg is a small hill in Roermond. It is in the Kapel in 't Zand-area of Roermond. "Galgeberg" is Dutch for "gallows hill". Once criminals were hanged or burned here. For instance in 1613, 64 witches were burned here; it was the biggest witchtrial in the Netherlands ever.

Munsterkerk (Munster) is an old 13th century Our Lady church in Roermond. The towers are 55 m height.

The Munsterkerk is the most important example of Late Romanesque architecture in the Netherlands. It's the only surviving part of an abbey, the rest of which was demolished in 1924. The church was restored by architect P.J.H. Cuypers between 1863 and 1890; during this restoration the frontal towers were added while a Baroque tower was removed and the originally octagonal eastern towers were replaced by square ones.

In 1992 the church was damaged by an earthquake which destroyed the two eastern towers, which were rebuilt since.

The church is a Rijksmonument, and is part of the Top 100 Dutch heritage sites.

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