Koudekerk aan den Rijn (English: ''Cold Church upon Rhine'') is a village 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 ...

Alphen aan den Rijn Alphen aan den Rijn (; en, "Alphen upon Rhine" or "Alphen on the Rhine") is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The city is situated on the banks of the river Oude Rijn (Old Rhine), where the r ...

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 ...

. It is located about 4 km west of the urban centre, 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 ...

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

History

Koudekerk aan den Rijn is a dike village which developed in the Early Middle Ages along the Luttike Rijn and the Oude Rijn. The Dutch Reformed church is a three aisled basilica-like church. The tower was built around 1400, but probably contains 13th century elements. The 15th century was dedicated to

Aleid van Poelgeest Aleid of Poelgeest (Koudekerk aan den Rijn, c. 1370 - The Hague, September 22, 1392) was the mistress of the Count of Holland, Albert I of Bavaria.DVN, een project van Huygens ING en OGC (UU). Bronvermelding: Dimphéna Groffen, Poelgeest, Aleid ...

who was killed in 1392. The church and tower were extensively restored between 1935 and 1936. Groot-Poelgeest Castle was first mentioned in 1326, but probably dated from around 1250. The castle started to deteriorate after 1705 and it turned into a ruin. The tower, the castle island and a carriage house remain. Koudekerk aan den Rijn was a separate municipality until 1991, when it became part of

Rijnwoude Rijnwoude () was a municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covered an area of of which was water. Rijnwoude was formed in 1991 as Rijneveld through the merger of the former municipalities of ...

. Until 1938, the municipality was known as Koudekerk.Ad van der Meer and Onno Boonstra, "Repertorium van Nederlandse gemeenten", KNAW, 2006. Since 2014 Koudekerk is part of the city

Notable people

Armin van Buuren Armin Jozef Jacobus Daniël van Buuren ( , ; born 25 December 1976) is a Dutch DJ and record producer from Leiden, South Holland. Since 2001, he has hosted ''A State of Trance'' (ASOT), a weekly radio show, which is broadcast to nearly 40&nbs ...

, DJ, born in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

and grew up in Koudekerk aan den Rijn.

Gallery

File:Alphen aan den Rijn-Koudekerk aan den Rijn, de Nederlands Hervormde kerk RM23797 IMG 0661 2022-03-27 15.24.jpg, Dutch Reformed church Image:Rijnwoude 019.jpg, Reformed church, 19th century File:Woonhuizen ten westen van Koudekerk - Koudekerk aan den Rijn - 20363114 - RCE.jpg, Houses on the river File:Koudekerk aan den Rijn - Dorpsstraat 70a.JPG, Carriage house Groot-Poelgeest File:Koudekerk aan den Rijn - Hondsdijk 69.JPG, Farm in Koudekerk aan den Rijn

References

Populated places in South Holland Former municipalities of South Holland Alphen aan den Rijn {{SouthHolland-geo-stub