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 in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. 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, held in July each year. The Monday during the funfair is called "Roze Maandag" (Pink Monday) and is primarily LGBT-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 Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

; 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 and interest 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 pasturelands for flocks of sheep. 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 from their sheep 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 th ...

—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 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 = K ...

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 city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, 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 . M ...

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 ...

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

013 013 is a music venue in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The venue opened in 1998 and replaced the ''Noorderligt'', the ''Bat Cave'' and the ''MuziekKantenWinkel''. 013 is the largest popular music venue in the southern Netherlands. There are two concer ...

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 c ...

club

Willem II Willem II may refer to: People * William II, Prince of Orange (1626–1650), stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands * William II of the Netherlands (1792–1849), King of the Netherlands Other uses * Willem II (football club), a Du ...

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 (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 religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

(4.8%) *

Reformed Reform is beneficial change Reform may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine *''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...

(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 ''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 wool 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 In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (shortened as "iff") is a biconditional logical connective between statements, where either both statements are true or both are false. The connective is bicon ...

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, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. It is the leading storage organization manufacturer in Japan. The company designs and manufactures products aimed at the fu ...

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 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, Tilburg ...

. 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, visual arts,

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 repertoir ...

, theatre 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. Perform ...

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 European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

and the EU Intercultural Cities programme.

Beverages

Schrobbelèr Schrobbelèr is a Dutch herbal liqueur, made by Jonkers Distillers B.V. (Tilburg). In the United States and Australia it is sold under the brand name Jans because English speaking people have great difficulty with the pronunciation of the consonan ...

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

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

ic 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 Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

. 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 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 stone ...

. ''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 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, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

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 De Loonse en Drunense Duinen National Park ''(duinen = dunes)'' is a national park situated in the south of the Netherlands, between the cities of Tilburg, Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch. It has been designated as a national park since 2002. It is ...

which includes dunes of drift sand from the west coast.

Sports

The local football team is

, named in remembrance of King William II.

Tilburg Ten Miles Tilburg Ten Miles is an annual road running competition held in Tilburg, Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Nether ...

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 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 season. ...

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 The Reeshof (also known as Tilburg Reeshof), is a district of the municipality Tilburg in the Netherlands. The district has 42,696 inhabitants, which makes the Reeshof the largest district of Tilburg. The Reeshof mostly consists of new-built house ...

. 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 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 th ...

. 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 t ...

, Poland * Matagalpa, Nicaragua * Minamiashigara, Japan *

Same Same may refer to: *Sameness or identity Places * Same (Homer), an island mentioned by Homer in the ''Odyssey'' * Same (polis), an ancient city * Same, East Timor, the capital of the Manufahi district * Samé, Mali * Same, Tanzania * Same Distri ...

, 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 p ...

(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 Joseph August Knip (sometimes Latinized to Josephus Augustus Knip; baptized 3 August 1777 in Tilburg – buried 1 October 1847 in Berlicum) was a Dutch painter. Biography Son of decorative painter Nicolaas Frederik Knip, who was his first teacher ...

(1777–1847) &

Henriëtte Geertruida Knip Henriëtte Geertruida Knip (19 July 1783 – 29 May 1842) was a flower painter from the Northern Netherlands. Knip was born in Tilburg as the daughter of the painter Nicolaas Frederik Knip. After her father went blind, she followed lessons ...

(1783–1842) painters * Vincent van Gogh (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 Kuns ...

(1864-1930) a Dutch landscape and cityscape painter * Sir

Bernardus Weber Bernardus “Ben” Matheus Antonius Weber (born March 29, 1912, in Tilburg, the NetherlandsOctober 23, 1996 in Camarillo, California) was a Dutch sculptor, draughtsman, and pastellist. He received the honor of knighthood in the Dutch Order of Orang ...

(1912-1996) a Dutch sculptor, draughtsman, and pastellist *

Theo l' Herminez Theodorus "Theo" Gerardus l'Herminez (1921-1997) was a Dutch painter. He was given lessons in drawing by an artist from Tilburg and later studied at the ''Academie van Beeldende en Bouwende Kunsten'' in Tilburg from 1958–61, and some time pass ...

(1921–1997) a Dutch painter, moved from impressionism to

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 move ...

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 The Eurovision Song Contest 1969 was the 14th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Madrid, Spain, following the country's victory at the with the song "La, la, la" by Massiel. Organised by the European Broadcasting U ...

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 Cinemat ...

(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 inter ...

(born 1959) a Dutch fluxus and mail artist *

Leonard Retel Helmrich Leonard Retel Helmrich (16 August 1959 – 15 July 2023) was a Dutch cinematographer and film director. Born in Tilburg, he lived in Amsterdam since 1982. He received highest honours for international documentaries at the ''Sundance Festival'' a ...

(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 Richard Rijnvos (born 16 December 1964, in Tilburg) is a Dutch composer.Richard Rijnvos
Department of Mus ...

(born 1964) a Dutch composer * Guus Meeuwis (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 guitar ...

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

Joris Oprins Joris Oprins (born 1980, Tilburg) is an animation director. He studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands. He graduated in 2003. In 2005 he worked as an animator on the stop motion children series Miffy at studio Pedri in Ankeveen. ...

(born 1980) an animation director * Floor Jansen (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 Neva ...

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. He w ...

(born 1981) producer and guitarist with the

Dark rock Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of lighting, illumination, an absence of visible spectrum, visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human visual perception, vision is unable to di ...

band ''

My Favorite Scar My Favorite Scar was a Dutch dark rock band formed in 2008 by brothers Jeroen "Jay" (vocals) and Eef "Evan" van Riet (guitar), Patrick "Pat" de Kok (bass guitar) and Daan Janzing, Daan "Dan" Janzing (guitar). The band disbanded in 2014 due to a ...

.''

Public thinking & Public Service

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

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

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 north ...

; 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 Yvonne Catharina Maria Theresia van Rooy (born 4 June 1951) is a retired Netherlands, Dutch politician and diplomat of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and businesswoman. Van Rooy attended a Gymnasium (school), Gymnasium in Maastric ...

(born 1951) a retired Dutch politician,

MEP MEP may refer to: Organisations and politics * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a political party in Sri Lanka * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (1956), a former political alliance in Sri Lanka * Maison européenne de la photographie, a photography centre ...

, diplomat and businesswoman *

Roger van Boxtel Roger Henri Ludovic Maria van Boxtel (born 8 February 1954) is a retired Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 (D66) party and businessman. Van Boxtel attended a Keizer Karel Gymnasium in Amstelveen from April 1966 until May 1973 and applied at ...

(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 Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis (28 October 1892, in Tilburg – 18 May 1965, in De Bilt) was a Dutch historian of science. Career Dijksterhuis studied mathematics at the University of Groningen from 1911 to 1918. His Ph.d. thesis was entitled "A Contrib ...

(1892-1965), a Dutch historian of science *

Bart le Blanc Lambertus Johannes Carolus Maria "Bart" Le Blanc (born 4 November 1946, 's-Hertogenbosch) is a Dutch economist, with a career spanning the sectors of public finance, banking and asset management. He is one of the founding partners of Andreas Capi ...

(born 1946), a Dutch economist in public finance, banking and asset management *

Henri Termeer Henri A. Termeer (February 28, 1946 – May 12, 2017) was a Dutch biotechnology executive and entrepreneur who is considered a pioneer in corporate strategy in the biotechnology industry for his tenure as CEO at Genzyme. Termeer created a busine ...

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

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

) * Marijn Dekkers (born 1957), a former pharmaceutical businessman, CEO of Bayer AG 2010 to 2016 *

Caroline Nevejan Caroline Irma Maria Nevejan (Tilburg, 1958) is Chief Science Officer with the City of Amsterdam and professor by special appointment of Designing Urban Experience at the University of Amsterdam. She is responsible for research, science and know ...

(born 1958), Chief Science Officer with the City of Amsterdam * Ron Heeren (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 Michael van Poppel (born in Tilburg, the Netherlands) is the founder and President of BNO News. Van Poppel ran a popular Twitter-based news service called ''BreakingNews'' from May 2007 until December 2009. It scooped regular news organizations ...

(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 po ...

Sport

* Jan Pijnenburg (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 from ...

Toon Becx Antonius Wilhelmus Maria "Toon" Becx (21 April 1920 − 26 November 2013) was a Dutch people, Dutch Association football, footballer who played for Willem II (football club), Willem II, primarily as a Left winger (association football), left wing ...

(1920−2013) a Dutch footballer with 329 caps with

Toon Ebben Antonius "Toon" Ebben (22 December 1930 – 4 February 2011) was a Dutch equestrian. After acting as a groom for Max and Ernest van Loon at the 1952 Summer Olympics, Ebben began competing himself, riding ''Kairouan'' in the 1950s–60s and lat ...

(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 Phi ...

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 Eur ...

2013 to 2019. * Bud Brocken (born 1957) a Dutch former professional footballer with 512 club caps *

Anita Staps Anita Staps (born 5 April 1961) is a retired judoka from the Netherlands. She won a world title in 1980, when women's competitions were first introduced to the World Judo Championships, and finished in third place at the next three consecutive cha ...

(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 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 in all three G ...

(born 1962) a former Dutch racing cyclist *

John Lammers John Lammers may refer to: * John Lammers (ice hockey) * John Lammers (footballer) {{hndis, Lammers, John ...

(born 1963) a football manager with

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, that plays in the 2nd division, the third-tier of the Danish football league system. Foun ...

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 Ageeth Boomgaardt (born 16 November 1972) is a Dutch former field hockey defender, who played 192 international matches for the Netherlands, in which she scored 86 goals. She made her debut on 27 January 1996 in a friendly match against the Unit ...

(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 6 ...

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, the ...

Mike van der Zanden Mike van der Zanden (born 9 March 1987 in Tilburg) is a Dutch paraplegic swimming (sport), swimmer.

(born 1987) a Dutch paraplegic swimmer, bronze medallist in the

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 ...

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

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

* Benito van de Pas (born 1993) is a Dutch darts player *

Jackie Groenen Jackie Noëlle Groenen (born 17 December 1994) is a Dutch professional footballer and former judoka who plays as a midfielder for Division 1 Féminine club Paris Saint-Germain and the Netherlands national team. Groenen previously played for Ge ...

(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 Netherlands ...

, called: ''Paleis-Raadhuis''

References

External links

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