Montfort () is a small city in the
Dutch province of
Limburg. Montfort has about 3,000 inhabitants. It lies about 8 km south of
Roermond
Roermond (; li, Remunj or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received town rights in 1231. Ro ...
. It received
city rights in 1271 and is renowned for the ruins of Castle Montfort, built in the 13th century.
Until 1991, Montfort was a separate municipality. It then became part of
Posterholt, which was later renamed
Ambt Montfort.
[Ad van der Meer and Onno Boonstra, "Repertorium van Nederlandse gemeenten", KNAW, 2006]
Knaw.nl
Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (KNAW), Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Since 1 January 2007, Montfort has been part of the municipality of
Roerdalen.
Places of interest
* The ruin of
Castle Montfort. This castle was built around 1260 by
Hendrik III of Gelre. For centuries it was the governmental centre of
Ambt Montfort.
* The
presbytery of Montfort is also one of Montfort's historic buildings.
* The
mass grave
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may Unidentified decedent, not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of executi ...
s and
monument
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...
s on the cemetery. Most of the victims of the bombardments of Montfort at the end of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
are buried here. The number of victims was high because at the time Montfort was a regional refugee sanctuary with 6 times its current population.
* The historical centre of Montfort. Most of the buildings in this part of the town are from the late 1950s because most of the original buildings were destroyed during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
.
File:Ruine kasteel Montfort Limburg.jpg, The ruin of Castle Montfort
File:Montfort (Roerdalen) Rijksmonument 47063 pastorie.JPG, presbytery of Montfort
File:Montfort (Limburg) massagraf.JPG, The monument
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...
s on the cemetery in Montfort
File:Montfort (Roerdalen) sculpture de Sjiëper, by Henk Sillen, 1989.JPG, Sculpture of "Sjieëper" (Shepherd), by Henk Sillen
Landscape
* Montfort is surrounded by forests, such as 't Sweeltje, Munichsbosch, Roozendaal and Reigershorst.
Notable people
*
Jos Verstappen (car racing driver)
References
External links
Roerdalen
Former municipalities of Limburg (Netherlands)
Populated places in Limburg (Netherlands)
Roerdalen
{{LimburgNL-geo-stub