Berg en Dal is a village in the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province of

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

. It is located to the southeast of the city of

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

. The village lies in the municipality of Berg en Dal. One of the attractions in the village is the Africa Museum, which consists of a number of African villages, rebuilt on a 1:1 scale.

History

The name of the village means "Mountain and Valley"; it refers to the hills in the neighbourhood. The name was first used in 1867. The village has its origins in the early Middle Ages, and developed on a hill along the road from

Kleve Kleve (; traditional en, Cleves ; nl, Kleef; french: Clèves; es, Cléveris; la, Clivia; Low Rhenish: ''Kleff'') is a town in the Lower Rhine region of northwestern Germany near the Dutch border and the River Rhine. From the 11th century ...

. It used to be surrounded by heath and contained little farms. In the early 19th century, it developed into a villa ward. During

Operation Market Garden Operation Market Garden was an Allies of World War II, Allied military operation during the World War II, Second World War fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 27 September 1944. Its objective was to create a Salient (military), salient into G ...

, Berg en Dal was the scene of heavy fighting. The villagers were evacuated in November 1944. On 5 May 1955, an

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...

was revealed with the names of the 27 civilian casualties. In 1949,

Duivelsberg (german: Wylerberg or , which literally translates to 'the devil's mountain') is a hill and nature reserve in the municipality of in the Dutch province of Gelderland, near the border with Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia). It is politically signi ...

and Wylerberg were annexed from Germany. In 1954, the Africa Museum was opened. It was an initiative of Father Piet Bukkems and other missionaries who had worked in Africa to provide a visual display. Later, an African village was built in the museum.

Gallery

File:Berg en Dal, oorlogsmonument foto1 2013-03-05 10.21.jpg, Berg en Dal, war memorial File:Berg en Dal, Landgoed de Wychert RM522012 IMG 0432 2022-02-28 11.00.jpg, Real estate: Landgoed de Wychert File:BergenDalRustenVrede.JPG, Rust en Vrede File:Duivelsberg - panoramio - Rokus Cornelis.jpg, View from the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berg En Dal Populated places in Gelderland Geography of Berg en Dal (municipality)