Vijlen ( li, Viele) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in the South-East part of 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

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 village is constituted of a number of

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

s, among which Mamelis, Camerig,

Harles Gottlieb Christoph Harless (originally Harles) (21 June 1738 – 2 November 1815) was a German classical scholar and bibliographer. Biography He was born at Culmbach in Bavaria. He studied at the universities of Halle, Erlangen and Jena. In ...

and Cottessen. Including these hamlets, Vijlen has around 1,500

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 ...

(in 2005) and is part of the

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 ...

Vaals Vaals (; Ripuarian: ) is a town in the extreme southeastern part of the Dutch province of Limburg, which is in the southeastern part of the Netherlands. The municipality covers an area of in the foothills of the Ardennes–Eifelrange a ...

. Located at 200 meters above

Normaal Amsterdams Peil Amsterdam Ordnance Datum or ' (NAP) is a vertical datum in use in large parts of Western Europe. Originally created for use in the Netherlands, its height was used by Prussia in 1879 for defining ', and in 1955 by other European countries. In the ...

, on top of the Vijlenerberg (Vijlener hill), it is the highest situated town in the Netherlands. The

neo-gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

and

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

St. Martinus church, which is located in the center of the village, is known as the highest located

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

in the country. The area around the village is well known for its natural environment and

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

s. The ' Mergelland Route', a touristic route through the South-Limburg area, leads through the village and its surroundings. With lodging and camping facilities available,

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

related business is a key source of income for the village. The origin of the village is most likely

Roman 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 letter ...

. The name Vijlen is generally believed to be derived from the Roman word 'villa' or 'villare' (farm estate or 'belonging to a farm estate'). Remains of a

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

have been found close to the village. The earliest known

documentation Documentation is any communicable material that is used to describe, explain or instruct regarding some attributes of an object, system or procedure, such as its parts, assembly, installation, maintenance and use. As a form of knowledge manageme ...

on the village originates from 1016. Documentation of a gift to the

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 ...

of Aachen-Burtscheidt in that year mentions property in Villiam (Uilliam). In the adjoining forest, the 'Vijlener bos', evidence of much earlier human activity in the area has been found. Communal

graves A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as gravey ...

from the

Linear Pottery culture The Linear Pottery culture (LBK) is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic period, flourishing . Derived from the German ''Linearbandkeramik'', it is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Inci ...

have been recovered, and indicate

human settlement In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of ci ...

s in the area around 5000 years ago." Op ontdekkingstocht door Zuid Limburg". Reisgids en naslagwerk voor toeristen en bewoners. Uitgeverij Filatop (streekreeks nr. 3) uitgave 2003

Gallery

File:Vijlen, kerk 2010-09-04 12.53.JPG, Vijlen, church File:Vijlen, kerk in straatzicht foto4 2010-09-04 12.57.JPG, Vijlen, the village

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Populated places in Limburg (Netherlands) Vaals