Venray or Venraij (; li, Venroj) is a

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 go ...

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 def ...

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese 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 Netherl ...

. The municipality of Venray consists of 14 towns over an area of , with 43,494 inhabitants as of July 2016. About 30,000 of those inhabitants live in the city of Venray; the other 13,000 live in one of the 13 surrounding towns.

Topography

* ''Dutch topographic map of Venray (town), Dec. 2013''

Populated places

Mental Hospitals

In 1905, the Sint Servatius mental hospital for men was built by the

Brothers of Charity The Brothers of Charity are an international religious institute of Religious Brothers and associate members at the service of the people most in need in the field of education and health care. The institute was founded in 1807 by Peter Joseph T ...

. The first patients arrived in 1907. In 1906, the Sint Anna mental hospital for women was built by the

Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary The Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary is a Roman Catholic religious institute founded in Ghent, Belgium. An enclosed religious order, its main apostolate is helping the needy and the sick, inspired by the work of Saint Vincen ...

. The first patients arrived in 1909. In 1969, management of the mental hospitals was transferred to two separate foundations. Both mental hospitals have had a big impact on Venray from cultural, religious and employment perspectives that lasts up to today. Nowadays, both mental hospitals are managed by GGZ Noord- en Midden-Limburg. Venray also hosts one of 12 mental hospitals in the Netherlands, De Rooyse Wissel, that house people assigned to mental treatment as a measure by the courts.

St. Peter in Chains Church

The St. Peter ad Vincula church in Venray hosts one of the largest late medieval collections of wooden

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

s that survived the

iconoclasm Iconoclasm (from Ancient Greek, Greek: grc, wikt:εἰκών, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, wikt:κλάω, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, wikt:εἰκών, εἰκών + wi ...

of the

protestant reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

in the Netherlands. The church itself was originally built in the 15th century in the

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style. It was rebuilt after extensive damage following the

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 opposin ...

Battle of Overloon The Battle of Overloon was a battle fought in the Second World War battle between Allied forces and the German Army which took place in and around the village of Overloon in the south-east of the Netherlands between 30 September and 18 October ...

World War II

Towards the end of World War II there were a lot of battles in and around Venray, damaging large parts of the center of Venray. One of the more famous battles around Venray is the

. One of the biggest tank battles between the Germans and

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

was fought in October 1944 in Overloon, resulting in hundreds of casualties on both sides. Venray was not liberated until 1945. Venray is also famous for its German War Cemetery, as it is the only German war cemetery in the Netherlands. 31,598 German soldiers are buried at this cemetery.

Economy

*Inalfa: Venray hosts the head-office and a

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

plant of Inalfa, a supplier of car roofs to the

automotive industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of company, companies and organizations involved in the design, Business development, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industry ...

. *Flextronics: Venray hosts

units and

logistics center A logistics center, or depot, is a facility dedicated to logistical operations. A logistics center might be a warehouse, freight forwarder, or a repair depot. The United States Air Force (USAF) is serviced by three air logistics centers (also known ...

s for

Flextronics Flex Ltd. (previously known as Flextronics International Ltd. or Flextronics) is an American Singaporean-domiciled multinational diversified manufacturing company. It is the third largest global electronics manufacturing services (EMS), origi ...

*Herbalife: Venray hosts a European

for

Herbalife Herbalife Nutrition Ltd., also called Herbalife International, Inc. (with a U.S. subsidiary called Herbalife International of America) or simply Herbalife, is a global multi-level marketing (MLM) corporation that develops and sells dietary sup ...

. *OTTO Work Force: Venray hosts the head-office for OTTO Work Force, a

temp agency Temporary work or temporary employment (also called gigs) refers to an employment situation where the working arrangement is limited to a certain period of time based on the needs of the employing organization. Temporary employees are sometimes ...

that predominantly provides

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

workers. *Xerox: Venray hosts a

plant and European

for

Rank Xerox Rank is the relative position, value, worth, complexity, power, importance, authority, level, etc. of a person or object within a ranking, such as: Level or position in a hierarchical organization * Academic rank * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy * H ...

, later

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...

. Nowadays, the European

and a Toner and Photoconductor plant remain. In the 1990s Xerox outsourced manufacturing of copier and printers to

. *

Royal Netherlands Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = ''Parade March of the Royal Netherlands Air Force'' , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment ...

: Venray houses

De Peel Air Base Lieutenant General Best Barracks ( nl, Luitenant-generaal Bestkazerne), formerly De Peel Air Base ( nl, Luchtmachtbasis De Peel), is a Royal Netherlands Army guided missile base in the Netherlands. It currently has only one, though not actively us ...

. In recent decades Venray has made a transition from a

base to a

third-party logistics Third-party logistics (abbreviated as 3PL, or TPL) in logistics and supply chain management is an organization's use of third-party businesses to outsource elements of its distribution, warehousing, and fulfillment services. Third-party logistic ...

base. As a consequence many

warehouses A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, outs ...

have been built on

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

estates in recent years.

Small and medium enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...

and mental

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

also continue to play an important role in the local economy. Venray also provides

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

through its

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...

river harbor in

Wanssum Wanssum is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is located in the municipality of Venray. History The village was first mentioned in 1242 as Wanzem, and means "settlement of Wando or Wanso (person)". Wanssum developed at the confluenc ...

and A73 motorway.

Nature

The western section of Venray, the villages Vredepeel and Ysselsteyn, was reclaimed from the Peel peat bogs in the early 20th century. Parts of the peat bogs remain and have been transferred to a national park. The western section of Venray is also straddled by part of the

Peel-Raam Line 230px, Peel-Raam Line The Peel-Raam Line (Dutch: Peel-Raamstelling) was a Dutch defence line built in 1939 and attacked and conquered on 10 May 1940 by the German forces. The defence line was behind the Maas Line (about 9 km to 21 km ...

, defensive works consisting of a canal and bunkers dating to the

period. Venray, near Geijsteren, also has a forest and sand dune area, that is one of the few locations in the Netherlands that is home to

common juniper ''Juniperus communis'', the common juniper, is a species of small tree or shrub in the cypress family Cupressaceae. An evergreen conifer, it has the largest geographical range of any woody plant, with a circumpolar distribution throughout the c ...

Notable residents

Godfrey Henschen Godfrey Henschen (also ''Henskens'' or ''Godefridus Henschenius'' in Latin), 21 June 1601 – 11 September 1681, was a Jesuit hagiographer, one of the first Bollandists, from the Spanish Netherlands. Life Henschen was born at Venray, Limbur ...

(1601–1681) a Belgian Jesuit hagiographer, one of the first

Bollandists The Bollandist Society ( la, Societas Bollandistarum french: Société des Bollandistes) are an association of scholars, philologists, and historians (originally all Jesuits, but now including non-Jesuits) who since the early seventeenth century h ...

Harry Peeters Henricus Franciscus Maria (Harry) Peeters (3 October 1931 - 17 November 2012) was a Dutch historian and psychologist, Emeritus Professor of Historical Psychology at the Tilburg University, and founder dean of the TIAS School for Business and Socie ...

(1931-2012), a historian, psychologist and academic * Theo van Els (1936–2015) a professor of applied linguistics *

Gerard Verschuuren Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...

(born 1946), a human geneticist and philosopher *

Louis Sévèke Jean Louis Bernhard Sévèke (Venray, 28 April 1964 – Nijmegen, 15 November 2005) was a Dutch radical left activist, journalist and writer. He was known for his legal action against the Police and the Dutch intelligence service. He was murd ...

(1964–2005) a Dutch radical left activist, journalist, writer and murder victim *

Michelle Courtens Michelle Courtens (born 3 August 1981), performing as Michelle, is a Dutch singer, who is known from her participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001. She was born in Venray, The Netherlands. On 2 March 2001, Michelle competed in the final ...

(born 1981), a singer *

Koen Heldens Koen Heldens is a Dutch born mix engineer residing in Miami Florida. Koen started his career in 2003 and rose to prominence in 2017 when he started working with the late XXXTentacion with which he earned a Guinness World Records for most streamed ...

(born 1986), mixing engineer

Sport

Peter Winnen Peter Johannes Gertrudis Winnen (born 5 September 1957) is a Dutch former road racing cyclist. He competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics in road racing and finished in 26th place. After the Games he turned professional in 1981. Among his 14 victor ...

(born 1957), a cyclist, winner of Alpe d'Huez *

Edward Linskens Edward Linskens (born 6 November 1968) is a Dutch retired footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, mainly for PSV. Football career Linskens was born in Venray, Limburg. During his 11-year professional career he played for PSV Eindhove ...

(born 1968), a football player * Leopold van Asten (born 1976) a Dutch show jumping equestrian, participated at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Mark Veens Mark Hermanus Maria Veens (born 26 June 1978 in Venray, Limburg) is a freestyle swimmer from the Netherlands, who competed for his native country at three consequentive Summer Olympics, starting in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia as a member of the 4×10 ...

(born 1978), a freestyle swimmer *

Mike Teunissen Mike Teunissen (born 25 August 1992) is a Dutch racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career He rode at the 2013 UCI Road World Championships, and was the winner of the World Under-23 Cyclo-cross Championships in 2013. He was ...

(born 1992) a Dutch racing cyclist *

Pauliena Rooijakkers Pauliena Rooijakkers (born 12 May 1993) is a road cyclist from the Netherlands, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . She participated at the 2012 UCI Road World Championships in the Women's team time trial for the team. Major resul ...

(born 1993) a road cyclist

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Populated places in Limburg (Netherlands) Municipalities of Limburg (Netherlands)