Oudenbosch () is a town 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 ...

Halderberge Halderberge () is a municipality in the southern Netherlands. Population centres *Oudenbosch (population: 13,110) *Hoeven (6,560) * Oud Gastel (6,360) *Bosschenhoofd (2,180) *Stampersgat (1,330) Topography ''Dutch Topographic map of the munic ...

in the west of the Dutch province of

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to t ...

. Oudenbosch is well known for its 'Basiliek', a Catholic church that is a smaller copy of

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...

in Rome.

History

The village was first mentioned in 1275 as "silvam que vocatur Barlebosche", and means "old forest". The forest was cultivated from 1275 onwards by the monks of the

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint B ...

abbey of St Bernard near Antwerp. Ouden (old) was added to distinguish from Nieuwenbosch, a village which was lost in the St. Elizabeth's flood of 1421. Oudenbosch was located at an intersection of land and waterways which stimulated its development. In 1837, the monastery boarding school St Anna was founded, and Oudenbosch became a Catholic centre. Oudenbosch was home to 1,945 people in 1840. In 1862, the first sugar factory was built in Oudenbosch, and it became a centre of the sugar industry. The Oudenbosch Basilica was built between 1865 and 1880 as a replacement of the parish church. It was designed by

Pierre Cuypers Petrus Josephus Hubertus "Pierre" Cuypers (16 May 1827 – 3 March 1921) was a Dutch architect. His name is most frequently associated with the Amsterdam Central Station (1881–1889) and the Rijksmuseum (1876–1885), both in Amsterdam. ...

as a replica of

, however the scale varies. The entrance was added in 1892 and is modeled after the

Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran The Archbasilica Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran ( it, Arcibasilica del Santissimo Salvatore e dei Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano), also known as the Papa ...

Oudenbosch railway station Oudenbosch is a railway station located in Oudenbosch, Netherlands. The station was opened on October 20, 1854, and is located on the Antwerp–Lage Zwaluwe railway. The train services are operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoor ...

is on the

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

–

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

line and was built in 1854. Oudenbosch was a separate municipality until 1997, when it became part of the new municipality of

Transportation

* Railway station: Oudenbosch

Notable people (born in Oudenbosch)

Cornelis Andries Backer Cornelis Andries Backer (1874–1963) was a Dutch Botany, botanist and Fern, pteridologist. He was born on 18 September 1874 in Oudenbosch and died on 22 February 1963 at Heemstede, The Netherlands. He stayed thirty years in the Dutch East Indies ...

(1874–1963),

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

* Jac. van Ginneken (1877–1945),

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingu ...

and

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

Marinus Jan Granpré Molière Marinus Jan Granpré Molière ( Oudenbosch, 13 October 1883 – Wassenaar, 13 February 1972) was a Dutch architect. His work was part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1924 Summer Olympics. Granpré Molière was a professo ...

(1883–1972),

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Gallery

File:Oudenbosch, de Basiliek van de Heiligen Agatha en Barbara RM31938 foto6 2015-05-30 17.20.jpg,

Basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its nam ...

of the

Saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Or ...

s Agatha and Barbara File:Overzicht noordgevel en koorzijde met koepel - Oudenbosch - 20535900 - RCE.jpg File:Oudenbosch P1070223.JPG, Natural historical and anthropological museum File:Hotel de Kroon P1070187.JPG, Hotel in Oudenbosch

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of the Netherlands disestablished in 1997 Populated places in North Brabant Former municipalities of North Brabant Halderberge