Leidschenveen-Ypenburg () is a Vinex-location and district of

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, located in the southeast. It is geographically connected to the main body of the city by only a narrow corridor. It consists of four quarters: Hoornwijk and Ypenburg on the southwest of the A12 motorway and parallel railway to

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Nethe ...

, and Forepark and Leidschenveen on the northeast. Since 2005 the district has its own railway station, Den Haag Ypenburg, situated on the

Gouda–Den Haag railway The Gouda–Den Haag railway is a heavily used railway line in the Netherlands, running from Gouda railway station to Den Haag Centraal railway station, passing through Zoetermeer railway station. It was opened in 1870. Stations The main interch ...

. Two highway nodes are located in the district: Knooppunt Ypenburg and the Prins Clausplein.

History

Until 1992 Ypenburg was a military airfield known as Ypenburg Airport. It was the site of the Battle for The Hague on 10 May 1940, at the beginning of World War II. German forces attempted to capture the airfield via an airborne landing. This failed however and Dutch forces recaptured the airfield. After 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 ...

eventually surrendered to Germany, the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegera ...

made no use of the airfield during the remainder of the war. Very little remains of the airport today, the former

air traffic control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

being a notable exception. After the war the field remained a civilian airport until 1955, when it was turned into an Air Base. After 1968, operations decreased significantly; the Air Base was used mainly as a

VIP A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots. Examples inc ...

airport for politicians and the

royal family A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term pap ...

. In 1982 it was decided to close the Air Base, but it was not until 1992 that it was abandoned by the

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

. In 1997 the new residential area was constructed on the site of the airport. Initially, Leidschenveen belonged to the municipality

Leidschendam Leidschendam () is a town and former municipality in the province of South Holland of the Netherlands. Along with Voorburg and Stompwijk, it is part of the municipality Leidschendam-Voorburg. History The town's name has been in use for centuri ...

, whereas Ypenburg fell under Nootdorp and

Rijswijk Rijswijk (), formerly known as Ryswick ( ) in English, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Its population was in , and it has an area of , of which is water. The municipality also includes th ...

. These parts were merged into The Hague in 2002.

External links

Webportal
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Webportal for Ypenburg
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Webportal for Leidschenveen
{{coord, 52, 03, 11, N, 4, 23, 38, E, display=title, region:NL_source:nlwiki Boroughs of The Hague