Giethoorn () is a village in the

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

Overijssel Overijssel (, ; nds, Oaveriessel ; german: Oberyssel) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name translates to "across the IJssel", from the perspective of 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 ...

with a population of 2,795 in 2020. It is located in 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 ...

Steenwijkerland Steenwijkerland (; nds-nl, Stienwiekerlaand or ''Steenwiekerlaand'') is a municipality in the province of Overijssel, in the eastern Netherlands. It was called Steenwijk before 2003. The municipality forms the entire northwesterly corner of the ...

, about 5 km southwest of

Steenwijk Steenwijk (; Low German: ''Steenwiek'', ''Stienwiek'' English: ''Stenwick'') is a city in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland. It is the largest town of the municipality. Steenwijk received city ...

. As a popular Dutch

tourist destination A tourist attraction is a place of interest that Tourism, tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of ...

both within Netherlands and abroad, Giethoorn is often referred to as "Dutch Venice" ( nl, Hollands Venetië) or the "Venice of the Netherlands".

History

Giethoorn used to be a

pedestrian precinct Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...

, but nowadays exceptions are made. It became locally famous, especially after 1958, when the Dutch film maker

Bert Haanstra Albert Haanstra (; 31 May 1916 – 23 October 1997) was a Dutch director of films and documentaries. His documentary ''Glass'' (1958) won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject in 1959. His feature film ''Fanfare'' (1958) was the mo ...

made his famous comedy ''

Fanfare A fanfare (or fanfarade or flourish) is a short musical flourish which is typically played by trumpets, French horns or other brass instruments, often accompanied by percussion. It is a "brief improvised introduction to an instrumental perfo ...

'' there. In the old part of the village, there were no

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

s (though a cycling path was eventually added), and all transport was done by water over one of the many

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

s. The lakes in Giethoorn were formed by

peat digging Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficient c ...

. Giethoorn was a separate municipality until 1973, when it became part of

Brederwiede Brederwiede is a former municipality in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It was created in a merger of Blokzijl, Giethoorn, Vollenhove Vollenhove is a city in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerl ...

, which lost its municipality status in 2001 to merge with

Tourism

Tourism has an influence on the old traditional town. The village, still only fully accessible by boat, is one of several places commonly known as the

Venice of the North The following is an incomplete list of settlements nicknamed Venice of the North. The term ''Venice of the North'' refers to various cities in Northern Europe that contain canals, comparing them to Venice, Italy, which is renowned for its canals (s ...

or ''Venice of the Netherlands''. Giethoorn has 176 bridges. File:Giethoorn, Bestanddeelnr 901-7742.jpg, The village in 1946 De varende kruidenier in de Giethoornse gracht aan het werk - Giethoorn - 20396071 - RCE.jpg, The village in 1955 File:Giethoorn Netherlands flckr01.jpg, The village in 2014

Monopoly edition

In 2015, the village of Giethoorn was chosen from 182 contenders across the world to achieve a place on the board of the new international edition of

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

.''Dutch News'' article
(in English): "Dutch village of Giethoorn wins place on new international Monopoly set". An online campaign led by local Village Marketeer Giethoorn.com resulted in enough votes to obtain spot number 21 on the special edition.

Notable people

Jonnie Boer Jonnie Boer (born January 9, 1965 in Giethoorn) is a Dutch Michelin star winning head chef and co-owner of the restaurant De Librije in Zwolle, Netherlands. Together with his wife and business partner Thérèse Boer he runs the 3-starred ''De L ...

(born 1965), Michelin star winning head chef

References

External links

Touristic website of Giethoorn

Official website of Giethoorn
(in Dutch) {{Authority control Articles containing video clips Car-free zones in Europe Former municipalities of Overijssel Populated places in Overijssel Steenwijkerland