Tilburg () is 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 def ...

and

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

in the Netherlands, in the southern

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to t ...

. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Tilburg University is located in Tilburg, as are Avans University of Applied Sciences and Fontys University of Applied Sciences. Tilburg is known for its ten-day-long

funfair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

, held in July each year. The Monday during the funfair is called "Roze Maandag" (Pink Monday) and is primarily

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

-oriented. There are three railway stations within the municipality: Tilburg, Tilburg Universiteit and Tilburg Reeshof. The "Spoorzone" area around Tilburg Central station, once a Dutch Railways train maintenance yard, has been purchased by the city and is being transformed into an urban zone.

History

Tilburg, modern woonpand bij NSstation foto1 2010-10-03 09

Little is known about the beginnings of Tilburg. The name ''Tilliburg'' first appeared in documents dating from AD 709, but after that there was no mention for several centuries. In the later Middle Ages, Tilburg referred to a region rather than a particular town or village; its population was largely in a couple of hamlets, one of which was known as "Eastern Tilburg" (''Oost-Tilburg''), which was later reflected in the name ''Oisterwijk'' ("Eastern Quarter"). This village centred around a small (probably wooden) castle or ''Motteburcht'' on an equally small hill, which became derelict and was torn down after a few centuries at most. Of this first "Tilburg Castle", nothing remained c. 2000, except for a few remnants of its

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

in the suburbs of Oisterwijk. In the 14th century, Tilburg was proclaimed a manor; together with

Goirle Goirle () is a municipality and town in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. Part of the suburban area of the city of Tilburg, it shares with it its phone area code and public transport system. The municipality also includes ...

, it acquired the title of "The Manor of Tilburg and Goirle". Successively, the manorial rights fell into the hands of several lords of noble lineage. They derived their income from taxes,

fines Fines may refer to: * Fines, Andalusia, Spanish municipality * Fine (penalty) * Fine, a dated term for a premium on a lease of land, a large sum the tenant pays to commute (lessen) the rent throughout the term *Fines, ore or other products with a s ...

and

interest In finance and economics, interest is payment from a borrower or deposit-taking financial institution to a lender or depositor of an amount above repayment of the principal sum (that is, the amount borrowed), at a particular rate. It is distin ...

paid by the villagers. In the 15th century, one of the lords of Tilburg, Jan van Haestrecht, built Tilburg Castle. "That stone chamber at Hasselt" is mentioned in several historical documents. In 1858, however, the castle was pulled down to make way for a factory, but the name lives on, in the city arms and logo. A replica of the foundations of the castle was restored in ca. 1995 in its original location, after the factory was demolished. In 1803, Goirle was separated from Tilburg and on 18 April 1809, Tilburg was granted city status. In that year, it had about 9,000 inhabitants. In 2009 Tilburg hosted several festivities in celebration of 200 years as a city.

Wool capital of the Netherlands

Tilburg grew around one of the so-called "herd places" or "Frankish triangles", triangular plots where a number of roads (usually sand roads) met. These herd places were collective

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or sw ...

lands for flocks of

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticate ...

. Their shape is still reflected in the layout of many places in Tilburg. Many districts, including Korvel, Oerle, Broekhoven, Hasselt, Heikant, De Schans, and Heuvel, bear the names of these old hamlets. The poor farmers living in these hamlets soon decided not to sell the

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...

from their

but to weave it themselves, and for a long time, much of the space inside their small houses was occupied by a

loom A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but t ...

—by the 17th century these numbered about 300. Enterprising people saw their chance. As so-called "drapers" they supplied the weavers with the raw materials for their "home working", and the first Tilburg "mill houses" came into existence. From then on, the wool industry underwent rapid growth, and in 1881 Tilburg had as many as 145 wool mills. Home weaving continued, however, until the early 20th century. Woollen textiles from Tilburg were known far and wide. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Tilburg retained its place as wool capital of the Netherlands, but in the 1960s the industry collapsed and by the 1980s the number of operating wool mills had declined. Present-day Tilburg industry consists of a wide variety of enterprises. The main economic sector has become transport and logistics with a variety of industry as a close second.

Urban renewal

When the wool industry collapsed in the 1960s, Cees Becht was the mayor of Tilburg. While he was in office, many old buildings were destroyed, including some precious monuments. The Koningswei neighbourhood (King's Meadows) was demolished and replaced by Koningsplein (King's Square). The reason for demolishing the neighbourhood was to replace slum with modern building. The new development, however, has not been successful and may feel that the square feels abandoned most of the year. Considered even worse was the demolition of the old city hall. This classicistic-styled building was a national-registered monument, but even that didn't stop Becht's plans to demolish it to build the nine-storey, modern-day, black complex. A part of the empty area was used to build the system of the inner ''Cityring''. Another building that was demolished was the old railway station, which was replaced due to ''Hoogspoor'' (literally: high rails), a project bringing the railway on viaducts to reduce traffic congestion in the years around 1960. The century-old station building was replaced by the modern one. Because of all of this and some more parts of Tilburg, Cees Becht gained the dubious nickname ''Cees de Sloper'' (Cees the demolisher).

Modern history

In the 1980s, many locations, formerly occupied by wool factories had been filled with small-scale housing projects. This mostly happened when Henk Letschert was mayor of Tilburg. The ''Heuvel'', one of the important squares, had its own lime tree until 27 April 1994, being chopped for a bicycle parking basement. The felling led to many protests, because the tree was still healthy. After the Pieter Vreedeplein reconstruction, plans were made to plant a descendant of the original lime tree. Three were placed, only one of them survived. The last living tree was moved to another location again, but died shortly after. As of 23 November 2011, no more descendants have been placed. The current one is just another lime tree. In the 1990s Tilburg developed a modern skyline. Because of new policy three buildings were built, which are considered skyscrapers in the Netherlands. These are the

Interpolis Interpolis is one of largest insurance companies in the Netherlands. The company has gained wide recognition with its advertising campaign ''"Interpolis.Crystal clear"''. Besides financial compensation, Interpolis also offers compensation in kind. ...

headquarters, the

Westpoint Tower Westpoint Tower ( nl, Westpoint-woontoren) is the tallest residential building in Tilburg, Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = ...

and

StadsHeer The StadsHeer is a building in the neighborhood Haestrechtkwartier in the Dutch city of Tilburg. The building is tall and has 31 above ground floors. Therefore, it is the second tallest building in Tilburg after Westpoint Tower. The lower six flo ...

. The Westpoint Tower has an altitude of and was the tallest residential tower in The Netherlands until the

Montevideo Montevideo () is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern co ...

in Rotterdam surpassed it. The 'StadsHeer' is the third one and is part of the 'Haestrechtkwartier' (Haestrecht quarter). The residential tower is nicknamed ''De Vogelkooikes'' (The Bird Cages) for its cubic balconies taped onto the building.

King William II

King William II (1792–1849) was fond of Tilburg. "Here I can breathe freely and I feel happy", he once said about the town. King William II always supported Tilburg—he provided money to improve the sheep breeding, built new farms and founded a

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...

barracks on St. Joseph Street, now a monumental building of the City

Archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual ...

s. Although the King was always made welcome by the manufacturers he had befriended, he needed his own residence in Tilburg, and commissioned the construction of a

palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

, which would function as his country residence. Construction started in 1847 and was completed just days before William II died, in 1849. It is now part of Tilburg City Hall. In 1987 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 An ...

was erected nearby, in memory of King William II. It replaced the old "needle" dating from 1874, which was removed from the street in 1968. After its restoration, William II's statue has got a place again in the heart of the city, where he felt happy among its inhabitants. The local football club Willem II Tilburg was named after the king.

Topography

Tilburg Centrum

Tilburg Centrum is the downtown of Tilburg, and is situated between (clockwise) the Spoorlaan, Heuvelring, Paleisring, Schouwburgring and Noordhoekring, which is the same as the order of the one-way roads around the district. The district has 6,572 inhabitants, and most of the shops, hotels, restaurants and cafes of the city. In 2008, the refurbished Pieter Vreedeplein was opened to the public, addressing a lack of shopping facilities as compared to similar-sized cities in the Netherlands. Two smaller cinemas were replaced by a bigger one on the Pieter Vreedeplein in 2007. Despite being called ''Centrum'', the district is some distance southeast of the geographical center. The district is connected by the Tilburg railway station.

Oud-Noord

Oud-Noord is situated north of the railway that crosses Tilburg, and between the ''Ringbanen'' (ring roads around the city center). The district has 33,915 inhabitants. Contemporary arts museum '' De Pont'' is located within the district. When the railway marshalling yard belonging to the

Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and t ...

became obsolete, a considerable stretch of the railway across the city, the '' Spoorzone'', became an

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

project. New premises for two courses run by Fontys University of Applied Sciences will be located here, as will Tilburg's new central library, replacing the library in Koningsplein. The railway yard is the largest area, though more areas along the railway will be reconstructed.

Oud-Zuid

Oud-Zuid is a district south, and also west and east of downtown Tilburg. The district has 38,659 inhabitants. , all the 'skyscrapers' of Tilburg, higher than are located within the district. The ''Hart van Brabantlaan'' is almost surrounded by high buildings like

and the

as a small part of the

. This area along the railway is partly located in ''Oud-Zuid''. Many important locations in Tilburg are located within the district, just out of the center, such as 013 music venue and the Schouwburg built in 1961. Also the Koningsplein with the main library and the Piushaven are located within the district. Old herd places include Korvel, Broekhoven and Oerle.

Noord

Tilburg-Noord is located north of the Wilhelmina Canal. The district has 23,340 inhabitants. Tilburg-Noord was built in the period 1966–1974. Therefore, it has many apartment buildings up to 16 floors, drive-in houses, green strips and industrial development. The streets in this district are mostly named after musicians from the Renaissance up to pop artists from the 1960s. The main shopping center is Wagnerplein, while there's also the Verdiplein in Stokhasselt. The one at the Tartinistraat became defunct. Before the district was built, it was mainly an agricultural area attached to a few villages, including Heikant, which is still the name of the biggest neighbourhood. Heikant's former village square, including the old church, is still present. The northernmost part of the district is still agricultural with some forests. In this agricultural area, the blessed Peter Donders was born; there still stands a chapel and a procession park.

Oost

Tilburg-oost consists of primarily industrial development. Residential neighbourhoods are in a small strip east of the Ringbaan Oost rather than the whole district, however, it is not considered as a part of the city center. The district only has 748 inhabitants.

Zuid

Tilburg-Zuid is located between the A58 motorway and the Ringbaan Zuid, and is the southernmost district. Tilburg-zuid has 19,149 inhabitants. The district contains two neighbourhoods and many businesses. The

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

club Willem II is located within the district, as well as the ice-skating rink with a speed skating rink, the Ireen Wüst IJsbaan, which is located here. The main campus of Fontys University of Applied Sciences is located in this district, as well as St. Elisabeth hospital and Leijpark, one of the largest public parks in the city.

West

Tilburg-west was mostly built after WWII, and has 26,655 inhabitants. The district with its neighbourhoods consists mostly of small brick houses and apartment buildings, except for Zorgvlied, which contains more expensive, free-standing houses. The Westermarkt is the largest shopping center out of the inner city. Many higher educational buildings are standing here, like Tilburg University and Avans Hogeschool. Another place of many schools is along the Reitse Hoevenstraat with multiple secondary schools such as: Jozefmavo and Theresialyceum. The district is connected by train with the Tilburg Universiteit railway station, Previously known as "Tilburg West station" and has one of the two hospitals in Tilburg (). The largest mosque of Tilburg, the Turkish Süleymaniye-Mosque built in 2001, stands in the southeastern corner of the district. West is surrounded by forests like ''Wandelbos'' and the ''Oude Warande'', located west of the university.

Reeshof

The Reeshof is the westernmost district and the most recent expansion of the city of Tilburg proper. and has a population of 42,994 inhabitants. Because of this, the Reeshof became the largest district of Tilburg by population. The first houses were completed in 1980, in the neighbourhood Gesworen Hoek. , the last neighbourhood (Koolhoven Buiten) is under construction. The district is connected by the Tilburg Reeshof railway station and multiple roads that encircle the district plus the industrial development Vossenberg north of the Wilhelmina Canal. The Donge runs through the district, including greenspace with some Highland cattle grazing between the fences protecting the surrounding neighbourhoods. This small-scale nature project is called the Dongevallei, which literally means Donge Valley in English.

Villages of Berkel-Enschot, Biezenmortel, and Udenhout

Demographics

Ethnic makeup

The population of Tilburg was 222,601 on 1 July 2021. According to the Tilburg city council, the city will reach a population of 217,000 by 2025. Of these, 23.3% (47,964 people) are of foreign descent. People are classified as being of foreign descent when they were born outside of the Netherlands, or when at least one of their parents was born outside of the Netherlands.

Religion and life stances

The Tilburg agglomeration has the following religious makeup as of 2003: *

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

(60.7%) *

Atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

(21.7%) * Dutch Reformed (7.8%) *

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

(4.8%) * Reformed (4.4%)

Geography

Climate

Tilburg experiences an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''Cfb'') similar to almost all of the Netherlands. Thunderstorms occur in Western Brabant more often than anywhere else in the Netherlands, up to 31 days a year.

Economy

The economy was concentrated on

industry for centuries, however, since the 1960s, Tilburg has made more progress in having different kinds of industries, supported by the government to save the city from poverty after the decline of wool industry. Chemical company IFF has a factory in Tilburg. In the 1980s, the Japanese company Fujifilm came to Tilburg. Insurance companies like

and CZ are headquartered in Tilburg, as well.

Iris Ohyama is a Japanese consumer plastic manufacturer based in Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. It is the leading storage organization manufacturer in Japan. The company designs and manufactures products aimed at the furniture, housewares, garden a ...

has its European offices in Tilburg. Since 2013, the electric car-producing company Tesla operates their main EU facility for assembly and distribution in Europe in the industrial area of Vossenberg north of the suburb "De Reeshof" in Tilburg. Tilburg has a high concentration of transportation/distribution industries, specializing in value added logistics and services, due to being the geographical center of the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico- economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe ...

countries and being located on the transport corridor between Antwerp / Rotterdam and the Ruhr area. The 'Waalwijk-Tilburg' region has been in the logistics hotspots top 3 within the Netherlands for years now and finished third in 2017.

Education

Tilburg University

Higher education is of significant importance, with Tilburg University attracting scholars from all over the world. It has a student population of about 13,000 students, about 8 per cent of whom are international students. With well-facilitated Library, museums and city center with many pubs and cafes, this percentage has steadily increased over the past years. TiU offers both Dutch-taught and English-taught programmes. Tilburg is one of the best cities for exchange students to have great experience in the Netherlands. It is a perfect city for students to work, mingle, get to know each other and make friends. The institution has gained a reputation in both research and education. In the field of economics, the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration ranked No. 1 in Europe for the second consecutive time in 2007 according to the Journal of the European Economic Association with regard to publications in top journals. In 2007 the Executive MBA program at the university's TiasNimbas Business School ranked # 11 in the world according to the ''Financial Times''. In the field of law, Tilburg University was ranked No. 1 in the Netherlands for the last three years according to ''Elsevier'' magazine.

Fontys School of Fine and Performing Arts

Tilburg is also the location of the Fontys School of Fine and Performing Arts (Dutch: ''Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten'' - ''FHK''), part of the

Fontys Hogescholen Fontys University of Applied Sciences is a Dutch university of applied sciences with over 44,000 students in several campuses located in the southern Netherlands. The three largest Fontys campuses are located in the cities of Eindhoven, Tilb ...

. The School originated from the merging of various educational institutions that had existed in different capacity in Tilburg before being united under the Fontys group, such as the Brabants Conservatorium, one of the nine conservatoires in the Netherlands, and the Academie voor Beeldende Vorming. Fontys School of Arts offers various bachelor and master programmes in English and in Dutch, across different fields in

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile art ...

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

and

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfo ...

This institution is based in a building known as 'Kunstkluster', located in the centre of the city next to the Schouwburg and incorporating a Concert Hall.

Culture and recreation

Tilburg is a pilot city of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it has 46 member states, with a p ...

and the EU Intercultural Cities programme.

Beverages

Schrobbelèr is a local liqueur. It has an alcoholic percentage of 21.5%, slightly lower than most bitters and has a relatively sweet flavour. The drink is sold in a stone jar and is drunk cold from own glass, a high and tiny chalice glass, larger than a Jägermeister glass. The drink originated in 1973 when Tilburgian entrepreneur Jan Wassing started experimenting with a drink with lower alcoholic percentage that was appropriate for his stomach. The result was successful. The drink is distilled now at Loven industrial area in Tilburg by the

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Carnival. The name is derived from the profession of 'Schrobbelaar', in the textile industry in Tilburg. The profession was unskilled and had a low wage. Another known drink from Tilburg is Peerke's Nat, which has a higher alcoholic percentage than Schrobbelèr (25%) and was introduced at the

beatification Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to Intercession of saints, intercede on behalf of individual ...

of Peter Donders (locally named Peerke). The drink is sold in bottles of 70 centiliters. The Koningshoeven Brewery brews trappist beer. It was founded in 1884 at Koningshoeven Abbey.

Open air art

Tilburg's open air art is mostly supported by KORT (Kunst in Open Ruimte Tilburg, Dutch for Art in Open Space Tilburg). One example is the turning house on the Hasseltrotonde, a roundabout, was erected in 2008. Besides being responsible for newer, modern art, KORT also gives information about older works of art, like the Willem II statue on the Heuvel.

Festival city, music

The city of Tilburg hosts many festivals, such as Incubate, ''Festival Mundial'' (world culture), Stranger Than Paranoia (jazz), Tilburg Students Festival, and

Roadburn Festival Roadburn Festival is an international music festival held in Tilburg, Netherlands every April since 1999. It was set up as a spin-off from the Roadburn music blog founded by Jurgen van den Brand and Walter Hoeijmakers. Originally focused on sto ...

. ''013'' is a modern pop-centre. Paradox is a club for experimental jazz and improvised music. Fontys University of Applied Sciences started a pop academy in the beginning of the 21st century, and students often perform on local stages.

Museums

Tilburg has an outstanding museum of Modern Art, De Pont, which houses works from renowned artists such as Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor and Richard Serra. There is also a large textile museum, offering not only a historical view in its former factory, but also a laboratory for design, production and development of textile as a material. The Textile Museum: A Museum in a restored factory with striking glass entrance, for industrial & designer textiles. Tilburg has traditionally had a rich textile industry. The traces of this form of industry can be found in various places in the city. De Pont, The museum of Modern Art located in Tilburg. De Pont houses works from renowned artists such as Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor and Richard Serra. The museum is housed in a former wool mill, an important piece of Tilburg's history. The artwork 'Skymirror' is displayed on the square in front of the museum. A work by Anish Kapoor. Nature Museum Brabant: The Museum is dedicated to natural history. The museum was housed in the former intendant residence of King Willem II. The collection of Natuurmuseum Brabant consists of stuffed animals of all shapes and sizes, animals "on strong water", dried plants, stones, minerals, fossils and archaeological objects. Museum Scryption: This was a former museum in Tilburg with the main theme 'written communication'. SEA Foundation Tilburg: an internationally oriented art foundation, exhibition space and artist residence for artists, writers and curators.

Citymuseum Tilburg

The collection that Stadsmuseum Tilburg manages falls into the Tilburg City Collection. In addition, it manages the Memory of Tilburg with more than 4400 stories. The tilburg city museum does not have a fixed location, but operates, among other things, in the Peerke Donders Pavilion and Vincent's Drawing Room. *Vincent's drawing room: In Vincent's Drawing Room you will find a museum room where the authentic room of

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

has been recreated and a modern drawing room with drawing computers. Vincent van Gogh lived and studied several years in Tilburg. The house where he lived can't be visited. The square where the house is located has been redesigned in the Van Gogh style. *Peerke Donders Pavilion: A museum for charity, in honor of Petrus Donders.

Parks and forests

A lot of parks and forests provide people from the Tilburg area with recreation. Leijpark and Reeshofpark are the largest among the parks in Tilburg. Leijpark was famous for

Festival Mundial A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holida ...

and lies next to St. Elisabeth hospital and a monastery, the Cenakel. Reeshofpark was created in the late 1990s, including some restaurants opened in 2011. Some older parks include Wilhelminapark in Oud-Noord, are built on the square of the former herd place Veldhoven. Tilburg offers, in comparison to other top-ten cities in the Netherlands, the most forest area. In the municipality, Tilburg has the Wandelbos, a forest south of the similarly named neighbourhood in Tilburg-West, the Oude Warande, the Kaaistoep, a forest of 4.5 km², and partially, Huis Ter Heide in the northwest of Tilburg, a 6.5 km²-sized natural redevelopment area. Out of the municipality, there's a national park called Loonse en Drunense Duinen which includes dunes of drift sand from the west coast.

Sports

The local football team is Willem II, named in remembrance of King William II.

Tilburg Ten Miles Tilburg Ten Miles is an annual road running competition held in Tilburg, Netherlands since 1988. Despite its name, it is a competition only for men, while the women's competition is nowadays held over . Since 2002 the competition has been held ear ...

is an annual road running competition held in Tilburg. Students' sports like rowing and hockey are popular as well. Tilburg hosts three field hockey clubs that play in top national leagues. Tilburg has an ice skating rink, including the 400 m speed skating rink Ireen Wüst IJsbaan. Within the speed skating rink there's an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

field. The hockey team

Tilburg Trappers The Tilburg Trappers are a professional ice hockey club based in Tilburg, The Netherlands. They previously played in the highest level ice hockey league in the country, but have been playing in the German Oberliga Nord since the 2015-16 seaso ...

dominated the Eredivisie (Dutch Premier League) for years before moving to the Oberliga, the third tier of ice hockey in Germany.

Transport

Tilburg has three railway stations: Tilburg (Centraal), Tilburg Universiteit and Tilburg Reeshof. The latter was built to connect the then-latest district of Tilburg, the Reeshof. Intercity trains only stop at Tilburg (centraal). The name of Tilburg Universiteit Station was Tilburg West from its construction in 1968 to December 2010, however, after 40 years, it was not the westernmost station anymore. A fourth railway station is planned for Berkel-Enschot, also in the municipality of Tilburg and getting more absorbed into Tilburg. In the past, until 1938, Berkel-Enschot had its own train station. Udenhout, lying further northeast in the municipality, also had its train station until 1938. Both stations are on the line to 's-Hertogenbosch. The Tilburg city and local buses are operated by Veolia Transport Nederland. The city experimented from 2005 to 2008 with free public transport for children and 55+ people. Before Veolia took over the bus network, it was operated by BBA (abbreviation for Brabants(ch)e Buurtspoorwegen en Autobussen). It has since been transferred to Arriva. Tilburg has an extensive bicycle path network called Sternet-Routes. The first bicycle path of this network was built between the city center and the

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

in 1975. From the mid-1990s, multiple bicycle paths (rather than lanes along the road) have been built. Since most of these have been paved by tiles, there is an increasing call for asphalt-paved paths. For this network of bicycle paths, some new tunnels were built under the railway that crosses the city. Tilburg is, at variance from other Dutch cities of a similar size, connected by only one national motorway, the A58 / E312 (to Breda and Eindhoven). An outer beltway, consisting of two provincial 2x2-roads and the A58, was finished in May 2012. Although the outer beltway is fully navigable, the Burgemeester Bechtweg, which was built initially as a two-lane (one per direction) road, was finished in 2013. Two other routes are of considerable importance for Tilburg: the A261/N261 to

Waalwijk Waalwijk () is a municipality and a city in the southern Netherlands. It had a population of in and is located near the motorways A59 and N261. The villages of Capelle, Vrijhoeve-Capelle, Sprang (the former municipality of Sprang-Capelle) and W ...

and the A65/N65 to

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of ...

. Neither is a complete motorway, and both experience bottlenecks. Various plans exist to build both to higher standards, with the N261 improved in 2015.

Twin towns – sister cities

Tilburg is twinned with: * Changzhou, China *

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of ...

, Poland * Matagalpa, Nicaragua * Minamiashigara, Japan * Same, Tanzania

Notable people from Tilburg

The Arts

* brothers

Gerard van Spaendonck Gerard van Spaendonck (22 March 1746 – 11 May 1822) was a Dutch painter. Life Gerard was born in Tilburg, an older brother of Cornelis van Spaendonck (1756–1840), who was also an accomplished artist. In the 1760s he studied with decorative ...

(1746–1822) &

Cornelis van Spaendonck Cornelis van Spaendonck (7 December 1756 – 22 December 1839) was a Dutch painter who was a native of Tilburg. Spaendonck initially worked under artist Guillaume-Jacques Herreyns (1743–1827) in Antwerp, and in 1773 moved to Paris to stu ...

(1756–1839) Dutch painters * brother & sister Joseph August Knip (1777–1847) & Henriëtte Geertruida Knip (1783–1842) painters *

(1853–1890) attended the King Willem II school, where he was taught painting *

Ludolph Berkemeier Ludolph Georg Julius Berkemeier (20 August 1864, Tilburg - 18 July 1930, Noordwijk) was a Dutch landscape and cityscape painter; associated with the Düsseldorfer Malerschule and the Hague School. Biography For two years, he attended the Kun ...

(1864-1930) a Dutch landscape and cityscape painter * Sir Bernardus Weber (1912-1996) a Dutch sculptor, draughtsman, and pastellist * Theo l' Herminez (1921–1997) a Dutch painter, moved from

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: * Classical Realism *Literary realism, a mov ...

Frans de Kok Frans de Kok (18 January 1924 – 4 May 2011) was a Dutch musician. He taught himself to play the piano, the accordion and the bass. In the 1940s and 1950s, he played and arranged music for the Joe Andy Orchestra, which toured the Netherlands, Wes ...

(1924–2011) a Dutch musician, conducted the winning Dutch entry to the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest *

Theo van de Sande Theodorus Amandus Maria van de Sande (born 10 May 1947) is a Dutch cinematographer. He graduated from the Netherlands Filmacademy in Amsterdam in 1970, and has been working as a cinematographer since 1972. He won Golden Calf for Best Cinematog ...

(born 1947) cinematographer *

Ruud Janssen Ruud Janssen (born July 29, 1959 in Tilburg) is a Dutch Fluxus and mail artist currently living in Breda in the Netherlands. Life and Work Janssen studied physics and mathematics before he became active with mail art in 1980, doing several i ...

(born 1959) a Dutch

fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...

and mail artist * Leonard Retel Helmrich (born 1959) a Dutch cinematographer and film director * Arjen Anthony Lucassen (born 1960) a Dutch singer, songwriter with Ayreon and Star One * Marc-Marie Huijbregts (born 1964) a Dutch comedian, actor and TV presenter * Richard Rijnvos (born 1964) a Dutch composer *

Guus Meeuwis Gustaaf Stephanus Modestus "Guus" Meeuwis (born 23 March 1972) is a Dutch singer-songwriter. As part of the band Vagant, he scored several hits in the Netherlands and Flanders during the 1990s and first decade of the 2000s. On 24 May 2015, Mee ...

(born 1972) a Dutch singer-songwriter, attended Tilburg University * Ruud Jolie (born 1976) the lead guitarist of the

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guita ...

band Within Temptation * Tarik Azzougarh (born 1979) stage name '' Cilvaringz'', rapper affiliated with

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close aff ...

* Joris Oprins (born 1980) an animation director *

Floor Jansen Floor Jansen (; born 21 February 1981) is a Dutch singer and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Jansen first became known as a member of symphonic metal band After Forever, standing as their lead voca ...

(born 1981) a Dutch singer and songwriter with symphonic metal band

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka N ...

Daan Janzing Daan Janzing (born 17 November 1981) is a Dutch guitarist and producer. He is one of the guitar players for the Dark rock band My Favorite Scar. Biography Janzing was born in the Netherlands and started playing the guitar at the age of nine. H ...

(born 1981) producer and guitarist with the Dark rock band '' My Favorite Scar.''

Public thinking & Public Service

* Bl. Peerke Donders (1807–1887), Roman Catholic missionary, cared for the lepers of Batavia,

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the nor ...

; beatified in 1982 * dom

Franciscus Janssens Franciscus Janssens OCist (born Albert Henri Lucien; 20 February 1881 – 23 April 1950) was the 76th General Abbot of the Common Observance between 1927 and 1936. Career He entered in 1901 to Achel Abbey The Trappist Abbey of Achel or Sain ...

(1881–1950) the 76th General Abbot of the Common Observance *

Carl Romme Carl Paul Maria Romme (21 December 1896 – 16 October 1980) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Roman Catholic State Party (RKSP) and later co-founder of the Catholic People's Party (KVP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA ...

(1896–1980) a Dutch politician and jurist * Norbert Schmelzer (1921–2008) a Dutch politician, diplomat, economist and Minister * Ernst Hirsch Ballin (born 1950) a retired Dutch politician and jurist, lives in Tilburg. *

Henk Krol Henricus Cornelis Maria "Henk" Krol (; born 1 April 1950) is a Dutch journalist, publisher, entrepreneur, activist and politician. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 10 September 2014. He used to be the leader of 50PLUS ...

(born 1950) a Dutch journalist, publisher, entrepreneur and politician * Yvonne van Rooy (born 1951) a retired Dutch politician, MEP, diplomat and businesswoman * Roger van Boxtel (born 1954) a retired Dutch politician, now CEO of

Dutch Railways Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and the ...

Science & Business

Caroline Nevejan bij de overhandiging advies Meedoen is de Kust - Raad voor Cultuur

* Franciscus Donders (1818–1889), a Dutch ophthalmologist * Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis (1892-1965), a Dutch historian of science * Bart le Blanc (born 1946), a Dutch economist in public finance, banking and asset management * Henri Termeer (1946–2017), a Dutch biotechnology executive and entrepreneur *

Jozien Bensing Josina Maria "Jozien" Bensing (born 12 March 1950) is a Dutch clinical psychologist. Bensing was director of the (NIVEL) between 1985 and 2008. Since 1993 she has been a professor of clinical and healthcare psychology at Utrecht University. Bensi ...

(born 1950), a Dutch clinical psychologist and academic *

Marc van Roosmalen Dr. Marc van Roosmalen (born June 23, 1947) is a Dutch-Brazilian primatologist. He was elected as one of the "Heroes of the Planet" by ''Time'' magazine in 2000. His research has led to the identification of several new monkey species, as well a ...

(born 1947), Dutch Brazilian primatologist (elected as one of the "Heroes of the Planet" by

Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Ma ...

in 2000) * Marijn Dekkers (born 1957), a former pharmaceutical businessman, CEO of Bayer AG 2010 to 2016 * Caroline Nevejan (born 1958), Chief Science Officer with the City of Amsterdam *

Ron Heeren Ron M.A. Heeren (born 1965, Tilburg) is a Dutch scientist in mass spectrometry imaging. He is currently a distinguished professor at Maastricht University and the scientific director of the Multimodal Molecular Imaging Institute (M4I), where he h ...

(born 1965), professor specializing in

mass spectrometry imaging Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a technique used in mass spectrometry to visualize the spatial distribution of molecules, as biomarkers, metabolites, peptides or proteins by their molecular masses. After collecting a mass spectrum at one spot ...

* Michael van Poppel (born 1989), the founder and President of

BNO News BNO News is an international news agency headquartered in Tilburg, the Netherlands. It provides news wire services to media organizations. Overview BNO News was founded by Michael van Poppel of the Netherlands in May 2007. The company ran a p ...

Sport

Jan Pijnenburg Johannes "Jan" Baptist Norbertus Pijnenburg (15 February 1906 – 2 December 1979) was a Dutch track cyclist who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics. He won the silver medal as part of the Dutch pursuit team. After the Olympics he turned profes ...

(1906–1979) track cyclist, team silver medallist at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated fro ...

Toon Becx Antonius Wilhelmus Maria "Toon" Becx (21 April 1920 − 26 November 2013) was a Dutch footballer who played for Willem II, primarily as a left winger. Club career Known as a free-kick specialist with a fierce shot, Becx played his entire career ...

(1920−2013) a Dutch footballer with 329 caps with Willem II * Toon Ebben (1930–2011) a Dutch equestrian, competed at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

Toon van Helfteren Anton J. J. "Toon" van Helfteren (born 20 February 1951) is a Dutch former basketball player and current coach of Feyenoord Basketball. Van Helfteren played in the Dutch Basketball League from 1971 till 1990. He was the coach of ZZ Leiden from 2 ...

(born 1951) a Dutch former basketball player, current coach of Feyenoord Basketball and coach of the

Dutch national basketball team The Netherlands men's national basketball team ( nl, Het Nederlands nationaal basketbalteam) represents the Netherlands in international basketball matches. The national team is governed by Basketball Nederland. The Dutch have reached the Eu ...

2013 to 2019. * Bud Brocken (born 1957) a Dutch former professional footballer with 512 club caps * Anita Staps (born 1961) a retired judoka, world title holder in 1980 *

Jean-Paul van Poppel Jean-Paul van Poppel (born 30 September 1962 in Tilburg, North Brabant) is a Netherlands, Dutch former racing cyclist, who was nicknamed ''Popeye''. Van Poppel was one of the most successful Dutch road sprinters. He won stages in mass sprints i ...

(born 1962) a former Dutch racing cyclist * John Lammers (born 1963) a football manager with Esbjerg fB and former player with 433 club caps * Bas Rutten (born 1965) a Dutch-American actor and retired mixed martial artist IMDb Database
retrieved 6 February 2020 * Ageeth Boomgaardt (born 1972) a Dutch former field hockey defender, 192 international matches for the Netherlands, and team bronze and silver medallist at the Olympic Games * Remy Bonjasky (born 1976) a Surinamese-Dutch former kickboxer *

Floris Evers Floris Maarten Alphons Maria Evers (born 26 February 1983 in Tilburg, North Brabant) is a field hockey player from the Netherlands, who won the silver medal with the Dutch national team at the 2004 Summer Olympics and at the 2012 Summer Olympic ...

(born 1983) a field hockey player, team silver medallist at the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

and

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

Mike van der Zanden Mike van der Zanden (born 9 March 1987 in Tilburg) is a Dutch paraplegic swimmer.2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

and

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was f ...

* Margot van Geffen (born 1989) a field hockey player, team gold and silver medallist at the 2012 and

2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

* Benito van de Pas (born 1993) is a Dutch darts player * Jackie Groenen (born 1994) a Dutch footballer and former judoka

Gallery

File:Tilburg, straatzicht2 foto2 2010-10-03 09.17.JPG, Tilburg, view at Heuvelstraat File:Tilburg, kerk3 foto2 2010-10-03 09.20.JPG, Tilburg, Saint Denis Church, known as the: ''Heikese Kerk'' File:Tilburg Donders.jpg, Tilburg, statue of Petrus Donders File:Tilburg textielmuseum2.jpg, Tilburg textile museum File:Paleis-raadhuis.jpg,

City Hall of Tilburg The City Hall of Tilburg or Palace-Council House ( Dutch: ''Paleis-Raadhuis'') is a former royal palace and presently a part of Tilburg city hall in the Netherlands. Construction of the palace was commissioned by King William II of the Netherl ...

, called: ''Paleis-Raadhuis''

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Cities in the Netherlands Municipalities of North Brabant Populated places in North Brabant