Tilburg is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of Noord-Brabant. Tilburg municipality also includes the villages of Berkel-Enschot and Udenhout.

The Universiteit van Tilburg (formerly the Katholieke Universiteit Brabant) is located in Tilburg.

A week-long funfair (site in Dutch), the country's largest, is held in July each year. The Monday of fair week is called "Roze Maandag" (Pink Monday), and is gay-oriented, though enjoyed equally by heterosexuals.

There are three railway stations within the municipality: Tilburg, Tilburg West, and Tilburg Reeshof.

History

Not much is known about the earliest history of Tilburg. Documents from the year 709 show the name Tilburg for the first time. After that the sources remain silent for some centuries. In the 14th century Tilburg was proclaimed a manor. Together with Goirle it acquired the title of "The Manor of Tilburg and Goirle".

Successively, the manorial rights fell into the hands of several lords of noble lineage. They derived their income from taxes, fines and interest paid by the villagers.

In the 15th century, one of the lords of Tilburg, Jan van Haestrecht, built Tilburg Castle. "That stone chamber at Hasselt" is mentioned in several historical documents. Unfortunately, in 1858 the castle had to make way for a factory. It lives on, however, in the city arms and logo. In 1803 Goirle was separated from Tilburg and in 1809 Tilburg was granted city status. In that year it had about 9,000 inhabitants.

The herd places

Tilburg grew up around one of the so-called "herd places", three-cornered plots where a number of roads (usually sand roads) met. These herd places were collective pasturelands for flocks of sheep. Their triangular shape is still reflected in the layout of many places in Tilburg. Many districts - such as Korvel, Oerle, Broekhoven, Hasselt, Heikant, and Heuvel - bear the names of these old hamlets.

Tilburg as wool capital of the Netherlands

The poor farmers living in these hamlets soon decided to stop selling the wool of the sheep and to weave it themselves. For a long time a greater part of the space in their houses, which used to be very small, was occupied by a loom. In the 17th century the number of looms in Tilburg was about 300. Enterprising people saw their chance. As so-called drapers they supplied the weavers with the raw materials for their "home working". The first Tilburg "mill houses" had come into existence. From that point on, the woollen industry underwent rapid growth and in 1881 Tilburg had as many as 145 woollen mills. Home weaving continued, however, until the early years of the 20th century. Woollen textiles from Tilburg were known far and wide. After the Second World War, Tilburg retained its place as wool capital of the Netherlands, but in the 1960s the industry collapsed and by the 1980s the number of woollen mills could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Present-day Tilburg industry is characterized by a large variety of enterprises.

King William II

King William II (1792-1849) always bore a warm heart towards Tilburg. "Here I can breathe freely and I feel happy here", he once said about the town. And he acted accordingly. King William II always supported Tilburg, also in a financial way. He improved the sheep breeding, built new farms and founded a cavalry barracks on the St. Joseph Street, now the imposing building of the City Archives. Although the King was always received with open arms by several manufacturer friends, he needed his own residence in Tilburg. The palace was built in the middle of the 19th century.

William II died a few months before the completion of his palace. It is now part of the city hall. In 1987, close to the palace, an obelisk was erected, in remembrance of King William II. It replaced the old needle from 1874, which disappeared from the street scene in 1968. After being restored, William II's statue has got a place again in the heart of the city, where he felt happy among its inhabitants. The local football team in Tilburg, who play in the Dutch first division, are themselves called Willem II, in remembrance of him.

More on present-day Tilburg and the corporate line followed by the Tilburg city council is to be found in the article on Tilburg, Modern Industry City, on the Tilburg City site.

External links

• Official website
• Tilburg University