Willemstad is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

in the Dutch province of

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic 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 ...

. It is located in the municipality of

Moerdijk Moerdijk () is a municipality and a town in the South of the Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. History The municipality of Moerdijk was founded in 1997 following the merger of the municipalities of Fijnaart en Heijningen, Klunde ...

. Its population was 2,490. Willemstad is a small historical town with well preserved

fortification A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

s. It lies on the

Hollands Diep The Hollands Diep ( pre-1947 spelling: Hollandsch Diep) is a river in the Netherlands, and an estuary of the Rhine and Meuse rivers. Through the Scheldt-Rhine Canal it connects to the Scheldt river and Antwerp. The Bergse Maas river and the N ...

, close to the

Haringvliet The Haringvliet is a large inlet of the North Sea, in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. It is an important estuary of the Rhine-Meuse delta. Near Numansdorp, the Hollands Diep splits into the Haringvliet and the Volkerak est ...

and

Volkerak The Volkerak is a body of water in the Netherlands. It is part of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, and is situated between the island Goeree-Overflakkee to the north-west and the Dutch mainland to the south and east. The western part of the Volke ...

. It received

city rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

in 1585. The Reformed Church was built in 1607 as the first new Protestant church building in the Netherlands (see: the Reformation and its influence on church architecture).

History

The current name was first used in 1639 as Willemstat, and refers to

William the Silent William the Silent or William the Taciturn (; 24 April 153310 July 1584), more commonly known in the Netherlands as William of Orange (), was the leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Habsburg Netherlands, Habsburgs that set off the ...

who fortified the settlement in 1583. The settlement used to be known as Ruigenhil, and was located at a strategic location along the

. In 1587, the fortifications were completed, and Willemstad received a

heptagon In geometry, a heptagon or septagon is a seven-sided polygon or 7-gon. The heptagon is sometimes referred to as the septagon, using ''Wikt:septa-, septa-'' (an elision of ''Wikt:septua-, septua-''), a Latin-derived numerical prefix, rather than ...

(seven sided) shape with seven

bastion A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...

s. Even though the fortification have been decommissioned in 1926, the layout is still clearly visible and mainly intact. The Dutch Reformed church was built between 1597 and 1607 and has an

octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

shape with a dome with ridge turret on top. There is an incomplete tower in the south-western corner. The church was severely damaged by war in 1944. It was nearly completely restored in 1950 when it was devastated by fire. The Gouvernementshuis was built between 1623 and 1625 for

Maurice, Prince of Orange Maurice of Orange (; 14 November 1567 – 23 April 1625) was ''stadtholder'' of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic except for Lordship of Frisia, Friesland from 1585 at the earliest until his death on 23 April 1625. Before he became P ...

. After his death in 1625, it was used as the residence of the governor of Willemstad until 1795. It was extensively restored between 1968 and 1973, and served as town hall until 1996. Willemstad was home to 1,154 people in 1840. In 1970, the entire centre was declared a protected site. Willemstad was a separate municipality until 1997, when it became part of Zevenbergen, which changed its name to

in 1998.

Gallery

File:Willemstad 20040517.jpg, Willemstad seen from the air, the

s are clearly visible File:Willemstad, het voormalige raadshuis in straatzicht RM38968 foto7 2015-05-24 17.35.jpg, Willemstad former townhall File:Willemstad, d´Orangemolen in straatzicht RM38950 foto3 2015-05-24 17.27.jpg, Willemstad, windmill (d´Orangemolen) File:Willemstad Koepelkerk.jpg, Reformed Church

References

External links

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