Assen, de Jozefkerk RM8411 foto8 2014-07-12 10

Assen () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...

and a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...

in the northeastern

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, and is the capital of the province of

Drenthe Drenthe () is a provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen (province), Groningen to the north, and the G ...

. It received city rights in 1809. Assen is known for

TT Circuit Assen The TT Circuit Assen is a motorsport race track built in 1955 and located in Assen, Netherlands. Host of the Dutch TT, it is popularly referred to as "The Cathedral" of motorcycling by the fans of the sport. The venue has the distinction of h ...

, the

motorcycle racing Motorcycle racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) is the motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major varieties include motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. ...

circuit, where on the last Sunday in June the

Dutch TT The Dutch Tourist Trophy, also known as the ''TT Assen'', is an annual Dutch motorsport event established in 1925 for road racing motorcycles held on the TT Circuit Assen, also known as the ‘Cathedral of Speed'. The event attained world champi ...

is run; and also for the annual Assen Dance Festival.

Population centres

Anreep Anreep is a hamlet in the Netherlands and is part of the Assen municipality in Drenthe Drenthe () is a provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to ...

, Assen, De Haar,

Graswijk Graswijk is a hamlet in the Netherlands and is part of the Assen municipality in Drenthe Drenthe () is a provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel ...

Loon Loons (North American English) or divers ( British / Irish English) are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus ''Gavia'', family Gaviidae and order G ...

, Rhee,

Schieven Schieven is a hamlet in the Netherlands and is part of the Assen municipality in Drenthe Drenthe () is a provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel ...

Ter Aard Ter Aard is a hamlet in the Netherlands and is part of the Assen municipality in Drenthe Drenthe () is a provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel ...

Ubbena Ubbena is a hamlet in the Netherlands, and is part of the Assen municipality in Drenthe Drenthe () is a provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel t ...

Witten Witten () is a city with almost 100,000 inhabitants in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis (district) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Witten is situated in the Ruhr valley, in the southern Ruhr area. Bordering municipalities * Bochum * Dort ...

, Zeijerveen, and Zeijerveld.

History

The history of the capital of

can be traced back to at least 1258, when a new location had to be found for Marienkamp Abbey, which had originally been built near

Coevorden Coevorden (; nds-nl, Koevern) is a city and municipality in the province of Drenthe, Netherlands. During the 1998 municipal reorganisation in the province, Coevorden merged with Dalen, Sleen, Oosterhesselen and Zweeloo, retaining its name. In ...

as a penalty for the slaughter in 1227 of the army of the Bishop of

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Nethe ...

at the hands of Drenthe's peasants, in what has come to be known as the

Battle of Ane The Battle of Ane (Dutch Low Saxon:''Slag bi'j Aone'', Dutch:''Slag bij Ane''), was fought in 1227 between Otto II of Lippe, Bishop of Utrecht, and Rudolf II van Coevorden with his army of Drenths. The account of the battle comes from '' Que ...

– a battle, incidentally, in which the bishop was killed. His successor ordered the nunnery to be built as a penalty. As it was located in a barren

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

area, which also happened to flood from time to time, a better location had to be found. A better and especially drier spot for the

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Sain ...

abbey was found in an area known as

, where at the time only a few farms were located. Around it was village communities like Deurze,

and Peelo. The latter has a history which goes back to the times when Dolmens were built, but it is now situated between two new districts of Assen. The "relocated" abbey probably was erected in the 1260s, and over the centuries Assen developed around it.

Abbey

The abbey was built at what now is the Brink (i.e., the grassy area which serves as a symbolic municipal centre) of Assen. On the abbey site now stands the Drents Museum, which was built in 1882 as ''provinciehuis'' (i.e., the residence of the provincial government). Only the ''abdijkerk'' (abbey church), the grounds, and bits and pieces of walls remind us of the religious beginnings of the city.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms is directly borrowed from the seal of the abbey. It is just like the coat of arms of the province of

- in both cases Mary with child - but

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

switches to the other knee. The history of the city is connected with the provincial governing board: around 1600, the abbey property was secularised. Marienkamp no longer existed, but the buildings did. Because of the central position of Assen and the fact that the government from what was then called ''de Landschap

'' (the Landscape

) was searching for a location for the government and civil servants, Assen became the seat for, and thus practically also the capital of

''Drents Haagje''

Assen was not a municipality yet, not even ecclesiastical sense. Even though there was an

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

church, Assen fell ecclesiastically and administratively under Rolde. In 1615 Assen got its

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as a ...

. In 1807 Assen administratively freed itself from the control of Rolde when the village got to establish its own municipal authorities. A municipal authority which, moreover, in most cases, operated in the shadow of the provincial government, which always manifested itself prominently in the ''Drentse Haagje''. The municipal authority mainly got there because of provincial governors like Governor Petrus Hofstede, to which the city also thanks its uniquely located park (in the center of the city). From that time, Assen also obtained its nickname ''het Herenbolwerk''.

City rights

Assen has been an official city since 1809. After

, then a village of about sixteen hundred people, Assen became the second place in

with city rights, granted by King Louis Napoleon, who had big plans for the village. A plan to make it a city was set up at the time, but the Kingdom of the Netherlands was incorporated into

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

French Empire French Empire (french: Empire Français, link=no) may refer to: * First French Empire, ruled by Napoleon I from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815 and by Napoleon II in 1815, the French state from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815 * Second French Empire, led by Nap ...

,and the plans were abandoned. As an administrative centre, Assen attracted well-to-do

inhabitants Domicile is relevant to an individual's "personal law," which includes the law that governs a person's status and their property. It is independent of a person's nationality. Although a domicile may change from time to time, a person has only one ...

and new enterprises and initiatives. These contributed to a slow but steady increase of commerce, wealth and new establishments; such a newspaper in 1823, a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

school in 1825, a postal service on

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

in 1830, a court in 1840, a first beginning for a garrison in 1852 and a railway station in 1870. Another major achievement was the canal Drentse Hoofdvaart, which was used to transport peat and other goods; the Noord-Willemskanaal was opened in 1861. The most important monuments of the city are from the nineteenth century.

Industry

Around 1900 Assen began to play a more prominent industrial role. It was originally a centre of

civil servants The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

, but the establishment of a slaughterhouse, dairy factory and iron foundry created more diverse expansion opportunities and encouraged growth. Around 1930, by establishing various psychiatric hospitals and healthcare centres, Assen became a central point for health care in the province.

Growth

After the Second World War, Assen did not have more than 20,000 inhabitants. The Assen TT made the city more widely known, but it was not until the 1950s, with the development of an industrial core, did Assen begin to grow more quickly. The Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (Dutch Oil Company) established itself in the city ,and with that, a trend was set. Now, Assen is known not only because of its TT, Bartje and the ''Drentse Rijwielvierdaagse''. It also is the fastest-growing city in the northern part of the Netherlands, with ample employment opportunities, particularly in the

service industry The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector ( raw materials) and the secon ...

.The city's unprecedented growth in houses and inhabitants is taking place, with environmental issues becoming more urgent. The

Assen railway station Assen (; abbreviation: Asn) is a railway station located in Assen, Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlan ...

connects the city to the rest of the country. Assen's city centre is closed to through motor traffic (except emergency vehicles), it has an extensive network of off-road cycle paths, and 41% of all journeys in Assen are by bicycle. The city has progressively become more cycle friendly since the 1960s.

Tourism, culture and sport

Tourist Trophy

The

is one of the most famous

circuit Circuit may refer to: Science and technology Electrical engineering * Electrical circuit, a complete electrical network with a closed-loop giving a return path for current ** Analog circuit, uses continuous signal levels ** Balanced circu ...

s in the world and is the only circuit that has been in the

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start of ...

calendar since its beginnings in 1949. It is also regarded as the "Cathedral of Motorcycle Racing."

Drents Museum

The Drents Museum provides a view of the world and of Drenthe, with stories about archaeology, art and history.

The Yde Girl

Before her execution, one half of this girl's head was shaved. She was only sixteen, about 140 cm tall and she had blond hair. Around the beginning of the Common Era, this adolescent was strangled with a woolen band which the executioner had wrapped around her neck three times. Possibly, she was also stabbed in the neck near the left collarbone. She rested in the peat bog near the village of Yde for almost two thousand years, until two workers discovered her in May 1897 - and then ran away in fright. Days later most of her body parts and fragments of a cloak were dredged up from the peat. Unfortunately, the villagers had also heard about this find. They had secretly removed nearly all her teeth and tore off most of her hair.

Dance

In November of each year Assen becomes the centre of international attention for the world of Ballroom and Latin American dancers when the city hosts the Assen Dance Festival which includes the Dutch Open Championships. This is an open event for dancers from all countries.

Cycling

Assen is also the capital of the "cycling province" of the Netherlands,

. There are many high quality cycle paths in the city and surroundings and it is host to regular cycling events such as the Drentse fietsvierdaagse and the

Jeugdtour The Internationale Jeugdtour Assen is the largest youth cycle racing event held in Europe. It has been held annually since 1960 in the city of Assen in the Netherlands. Each year it attracts hundreds of racing cyclists, many of whom go on to su ...

. In 2009 the prologue and opening stage of the

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the ...

took place in Assen. The city has twice hosted the

International Six Days Enduro The International Six Days Enduro (ISDE), formerly known as the International Six Days Trial (ISDT), is the oldest 'off-road' motorcycle event on the FIM Calendar. The ISDT was first held in 1913 at Carlisle, England. It has occurred annually, ...

Association football

Asser Christelijke Voetbalvereniging was founded in 1939 and is one of the most successful amateur clubs in Dutch football.

Education

The city of Assen is home to the Dutch secondary vocational education (MBO) of Drenthe College. Some of the programmes offered by this vocational school are "Car technician", "First Car Engineer" and "First motorcycle technician", all due to the strong connections between DC and the TT Circuit Assen. About 8,000 students work across the three faculties in the city of Assen, as well as few others in

Meppel Meppel (; Drents: ''Möppelt'') is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It constitutes the southwestern part of the province of Drenthe. Meppel is the smallest municipality in Drenthe, with a total area of about 57 km² (22 sq ...

and Emmen. Assen also hosts one faculty of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, more specifically the

Hanze Institute of Technology The Institute of Engineering Assen is part of the Hanze University Groningen in the Netherlands. The institute is based in Assen where it offers a Bachelor Programme in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and a Master Programme in Sensor System ...

.About 100 university students are located here, some from the Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and some from the Master Course of Smart Systems Engineering. The difference between the two institutions is that the former is only given in Dutch and is more "work in the field" orientated. Meanwhile, the latter is an international university of AS that provides Bachelors's and Masters's studies in English (see

education in the Netherlands Education in the Netherlands is characterized by division: education is oriented toward the needs and background of the pupil. Education is divided over schools for different age groups, some of which are divided in streams for different education ...

International relations

Assen is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: *

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

Notable people born in Assen

Songfestival Dick Rienstra, Bestanddeelnr 929-0092

Johannes Alberti Johannes Alberti (March 6, 1698 in Assen – 13 August 1762, Leiden), was a Dutch theologian. Early life Alberti was the son of a flour miller. He did not regularly attend school due to the distance between his parents' house and the local ...

(1698 in Assen – 1762) a Dutch theologian * Hendrik Jan Smidt (1831 in Assen – 1917 )

Governor-General of Suriname This is a list of colonial governors of Suriname, a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north. Suriname was first colonized by the Bri ...

1885 to 1888 * Tettje Clay-Jolles (1881 in Assen – 1972) one of the first female Dutch physicists *

Jo van de Kieft Johan "Jo" van de Kieft (21 May 1884 – 22 August 1970) was a Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and businessman. Biography He was a municipal councillor in Bussum Bussum () is a commuter town and former municipality in the Gooi r ...

(1884 – 1970 in Assen) a Dutch politician and businessman * Jan Donner (1891 in Assen – 1981) a Dutch politician *

Johannes Linthorst Homan Johannes (Hans) Linthorst Homan (17 February 1903 – 6 November 1986) was a Dutch politician and diplomat. He was born in Assen to the patrician Linthorst Homan family, the son of Jan Tijmens Linthorst Homan. He studied law in Leiden, and sta ...

(1903 in Assen – 1986) a Dutch politician and diplomat *

Anne de Vries Anne de Vries (22 May 1904 – 29 November 1964) was a Dutch teacher and writer, particularly famous in the Netherlands for his novels of regional life. Born in the village of Kloosterveen near Assen, de Vries married Alida Gerdina van Wermes ...

(1904 in Kloosterveen – 1964) a Dutch teacher and author *

Henk Feldmeijer Johannes Hendrik Feldmeijer (30 November 1910 – 22 February 1945) was a Dutch Nazi politician and a member of the NSB. Early years He was born in Assen on 30 November 1910 as Johannes Hendrik Veldmeijer. In 1915, his family's name was chang ...

(1910 in Assen – 1945) a Dutch National Socialist politician * Jacob Staal (1913 in Assen - 1981) a Dutch commando during World War II * Wim Franken (1922 in Assen – 2012) a Dutch composer, pianist and

carillonneur A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoni ...

* Dick Rienstra (1941 in Assen) a Dutch singer and actor IMDb Database
retrieved 11 October 2019 * Relus ter Beek (1944 in Coevorden – 2008) a Dutch politician * Erik Ziengs (born 1960 in Hoogersmilde) a Dutch politician and businessman *

John-Paul Langbroek John-Paul Honoré Langbroek (born 31 January 1961) is an Australian politician who has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland representing the centre-right Liberal Party and its successor, the centre-right Liberal National Part ...

(born 1961 in Assen) an Australian politician *

Juul Kraijer Juul Kraijer (born 31 October 1970)Juul Kraijer
at the

(born 1970 in Assen) a Dutch visual artist who uses drawing and photography

Sport

Johan Bontekoe Johan Bontekoe (1 July 1943 – 25 March 2006) was a Dutch freestyle swimmer who won a gold medal in the 400 meter event at the 1962 European Aquatics Championships. This was the second ever European gold medal for a Dutch male swimmer after 1938 ...

(1943 in Assen– 2006) a Dutch freestyle swimmer, competed in the 1964 Summer Olympics *

Klenie Bimolt Klena ("Klenie") Geertje Bimolt (born 8 June 1945 in Assen, Drenthe) is a former breaststroke swimmer from the Netherlands, who won the silver medal in the 4 × 100 medley relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics. She did so together with her team mat ...

(born 1945 in Assen) a former breaststroke swimmer, silver medallist at the 1964 Summer Olympics * Egbert Streuer (born 1954 in Assen) a Dutch former professional sidecar driver * Harry Sinkgraven (born 1966) a Dutch football coach and former footballer with 334 club caps *

Peter Hoekstra Cornelis Piet "Pete" Hoekstra (; born October 30, 1953) is a Dutch-American politician who served as the United States Ambassador to the Netherlands from January 10, 2018, to January 17, 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he previously ser ...

(born 1973 in Assen) retired footballer with 273 club caps *

Bas Roorda Bas Roorda (born 13 February 1973 in Assen) is a former Dutch football goalkeeper. His former teams are NEC Nijmegen, Roda JC, FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, p ...

(born 1973 in Assen) a Dutch football player with 280 club caps * Timothy Beck (born 1977 in Assen) a Dutch sprinter and bobsledder, competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics and in the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soó ...

* Sergio van Dijk (born 1982 in Assen) a Dutch-Indonesian football player, over 330 club caps * Marc de Maar (born 1984 in Assen) professional cyclist,

Quick-Step Soudal–Quick-Step () is a Belgian UCI WorldTeam cycling team led by team manager Patrick Lefevere. The directeurs sportifs are Davide Bramati, Iljo Keisse, Klaas Lodewyck, Wilfried Peeters, Tom Steels and Geert Van Bondt. The team is nickna ...

* Boy Westerhof (born 1985 in Assen) a Dutch professional tennis player *

Inge Dekker Inge Dekker (born 18 August 1985) is a Dutch former competitive swimmer who specialised in butterfly and freestyle events. She won the bronze medal with the Dutch women's 4×100-metre freestyle relay team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, ...

(born 1985 in Assen) a former butterfly and freestyle swimmer, bronze medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics *

Brian Kamstra Brian Kamstra (born 5 July 1993) is a retired Dutch professional cyclist, who raced for UCI ProSeries, UCI ProTeam . He currently lives in Rijeka, Croatia and is an ambassador for Castelli (brand) and Julbo (brand), Julbo eyewear. Kamstra is cur ...

(born 1993 in Assen) a professional cyclist, Team Novo Nordisk *

Maike van der Duin Maike van der Duin (born 12 September 2001) is a Dutch professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's Continental Team and represents the Netherlands on the track. Major results ;2018 : 9th Overall Healthy Ageing Tour Juni ...

(born 2001 in Assen) a professional cyclist, Le Col–Wahoo

Gallery

File:AssenMarkt.JPG, Assen, pavement cafe called Markt File:Blauwe Klap.jpg, alt=Blauwe Klap, Blauwe Klap, a local bridge File:Cykelparkering i centrala Assen.JPG, Assen, Brink, public square viewing west File:De Drentsche Hoofdvaart naar Kloosterveen foto5 2016-04-09 14.45.jpg, Canal (de Drentsche Hoofdvaart) to Kloosterveen

References

External links

* *
Official website

TT Circuit Assen
{{Authority control Cities in the Netherlands Municipalities of Drenthe Populated places in Drenthe Populated places established in the 13th century Provincial capitals of the Netherlands 13th-century establishments in Europe