Heemskerk () is a municipality and a town in the

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 Neth ...

, in the province of

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

. It is located in the

Kennemerland Kennemerland is a coastal region in the northwestern Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It includes the sand dunes north of the North Sea Canal, as well as the dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park. History Kennemerland gets it ...

region.

Local government

As of March 2022, the municipal council of Heemskerk consists of 25 seats, which are divided as follows: * Heemskerk Lokaal - 9 seats * Liberaal Heemskerk - 3 seats *

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a social liberal political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the centre of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal International (LI) and the Alliance of Liberals and Dem ...

- 3 seats * Green Left - 3 seats *

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party i ...

- 3 seats * Labour Party - 2 seats *

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary ...

- 2 seats The CDA, Heemskerk Lokaal, Liberaal Heemskerk and D66 form the governing coalition. The (non-elected) mayor of Heemskerk is currently K.S. Heldoorn ( Labour Party).

History

It is not certain where the name of Heemskerk comes from. The town was already known during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. In an official deed from the year of 1063, the town was known as ''Hemezen Kyrica'', Latinized Frisian meaning Church of Hemezen, a Frisian nun who lived in a religious house there. Heemskerk knows many historical monuments, among them the ''Huldtoneel'' (lit. the "Inaugurate Stage"), an artificial hill located near the current Rijksstraatweg, where once the

Counts of Holland The counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century. House of Holland The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf, Count in Frisia (Dijkstra suggests th ...

were inaugurated. According to tradition, the Huldtoneel was used before the

Roman Era In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

as a Germanic sanctuary. In the nineteenth century Jonkheer Gevers finally made the Huldtoneel a monument - as it is known today - and ordered passers-by to honour the monument. Many battles have been fought in Heemskerk. Two castles - Oud Haerlem Castle and Heemskerk Castle - were built in the twelfth and thirteenth century respectively to protect the

County of Holland The County of Holland was a State of the Holy Roman Empire and from 1433 part of the Burgundian Netherlands, from 1482 part of the Habsburg Netherlands and from 1581 onward the leading province of the Dutch Republic, of which it remained a part ...

against the

West Frisians The West Frisians or, more precisely, the Westlauwers Frisians ( nl, Friezen or Westerlauwerse Friezen, fy, Friezen or Westerlauwerske Friezen), are those Frisian peoples in that part of Frisia administered by the Netherlands: the Province of ...

. In the fifteenth century the residents of Heemskerk fought each other during the

Hook and Cod wars The Hook and Cod wars ( nl, Hoekse en Kabeljauwse twisten) comprise a series of wars and battles in the County of Holland between 1350 and 1490. Most of these wars were fought over the title of count of Holland, but some have argued that the un ...

, in which both castles were destroyed. The Oud Haerlem castle was never rebuilt, Castle Heemskerk however was. In 1492 a rebellion by the people of Kennemerland was brutally beaten down by the Austrian conquerors, on the place where today the cemetery of the Hervormde Kerk (Reformed Church) is located. Gem-Heemskerk-OpenTopo

In 1610 the Castle Heemskerk was renamed to Castle Marquette and was at first the residence for many nobles and later inhabited by

patricians The patricians (from la, patricius, Greek: πατρίκιος) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom, and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after ...

. The last noble family that lived there were the House of Gevers. Today Castle Marquette is owned by the Spanish hotelgroup NH Hoteles and is the site of many weddings, conferences, and company courses, while the estate grounds are favoured for wedding photos. Located on the eastside of Heemskerk is Castle Assumburg, built from the remains of Kasteel Oud Haerlem in 1546. The Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church) at the Nielenplein and Kerkplein is built in 1628, but it has a tower from the Middle Ages. In the graveyard around the church is a copy of a monument dedicated to the father of painter Maarten van Heemskerck. The original is located inside the church.

Agricultural village

After the time of

knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

and nobles, Heemskerk remained a small, quiet village near the dunes. Its residents, who mainly worked in agriculture and keeping cattle, had good, but also some very bad times. From the time that products - mainly strawberries for the neighbouring town

Beverwijk Beverwijk () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The town is located about northwest of Amsterdam in the Randstad metropolitan area, north of the North Sea Canal very close to the North Sea coast. A ...

, where the fruits were sold - were brought to the market with donkeys, people from Heemskerk got the name of Donkey as a nickname and symbol. The former town hall was built in 1911 after a design by

Jan Stuyt Jan Stuyt (21 August 1868, Purmerend - 11 July 1934, The Hague) was a Dutch architect. Childhood and Education Stuyt was born the son of a cattle farmer. Due to the headmaster of his school, he was employed in 1883 at the office of Adrianus ...

and was raised with an additional floor in 1949. Today this is the building where Janssen's notary office is located. The Roman Catholic Laurentiuskerk, designed by architect J.H. Tonnaer, was completed in 1891 and is a rare example of a Catholic church in Holland in a

neo-renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

style. There is nothing left of other historical monuments, like Castle Oud Haerlem.

Transportation

*Railway Station:

Heemskerk Heemskerk () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is located in the Kennemerland region. Local government As of March 2022, the municipal council of Heemskerk consists of 25 seats, which are divid ...

Notable residents

* Maarten van Heemskerck (1498-1574) a Dutch portrait and religious painter * Nicholaas Hennemann (1813-1898) early photographer who worked with

William Henry Fox Talbot William Henry Fox Talbot FRS FRSE FRAS (; 11 February 180017 September 1877) was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later 1 ...

Rolf de Heer Rolf de Heer (born 4 May 1951) is a Dutch Australian film director. De Heer was born in Heemskerk in the Netherlands but migrated to Sydney when he was eight years old.

(born 1951) a Dutch Australian film director * Nico Roozen (born 1953) an economist, co-launched fairtrade

Max Havelaar ''Max Havelaar; or, The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company'' ( nl, Max Havelaar; of, De koffi-veilingen der Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappy) is an 1860 novel by Multatuli (the pen name of Eduard Douwes Dekker), which played a key role ...

with Solidaridad * André Aptroot (born 1961) a Dutch mycologist and lichenologist * Sofie van den Enk (born 1980) a Dutch TV presenter IMDb Database
retrieved 31 December 2019 * Bette Franke, (born 1989) a Dutch model

Sport

* Martin van der Horst (born 1965) a retired volleyball player, team silver medallist at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Ernesto Hoost Ernesto Frits Hoost (born 11 July 1965) is a Dutch retired kickboxer. A four-time K-1 World Champion, Hoost is considered to be one of the greatest kickboxers of all time. Debuting in 1993 at the K-1 World Grand Prix 1993, where he came just on ...

(born 1965) a retired kickboxer: four-time K-1 World Champion *

Arthur Numan Arthur Numan (born 14 December 1969) is a Dutch former professional footballer. He played as a left back and was a regular fixture in Netherlands national football team. He is currently the team manager for the Netherlands B squad and a scout fo ...

(born 1969) a retired Dutch footballer with 436 club caps * Juan Viedma (born 1974) a Dutch retired footballer with 232 club caps * Dennis Lens (born 1977) a Dutch former badminton player, competed at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Rafael van der Vaart Rafael Ferdinand van der Vaart (born 11 February 1983) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, and is currently the assistant manager of Danish 2nd Division club Esbjerg fB. Van der Vaart began his ca ...

(born 1983) primarily known as a retired footballer with 417 club caps and currently a professional darts player * Nick Kuipers (born 1988) a Dutch footballer with 230 club caps

Gallery

File:Kasteel Assumburg.JPG, Kasteel Assumburg File:Heemskerk, notariskantoor aan de Burg. Nielenplein 2 foto8 2011-06-12 16.10.JPG, Heemskerk, notariskantoor aan de Burg File:Maerten van Heemskerck Statue02.jpg, Maerten van Heemskerck Statue File:Marquette-voor.jpg, Kasteel Marquette File:GM-Oosterweg-6-Heemskerk.JPG, GM-Oosterweg-6-Heemskerk

References

External links

*
Official website
{{Authority control Municipalities of North Holland Populated places in North Holland