Heemskerk

For other uses, see Heemskerk (disambiguation).

Heemskerk
—  Municipality  —
Assumburg Castle
Flag Coat of arms
Coordinates: 52°31′N 4°40′E
Country	Netherlands
Province	North Holland
Area(2006)
• Total	31.73 km2 (12.3 sq mi)
• Land	27.48 km2 (10.6 sq mi)
• Water	4.25 km2 (1.6 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2007)
• Total	38.856 (November 2,009)
• Density	1,385/km2 (3,587.1/sq mi)
	Source: CBS, Statline.
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Website	www.heemskerk.nl

Heemskerk ( pronunciation ) is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland.

Local government

The municipal council of Heemskerk consists of 25 seats, which are divided as follows:

• PvdA - 5 seats
• CDA - 5 seats
• VVD - 5 seats
• GroenLinks - 3 seats
• D66 - 3 seats
• Liberaal Heemskerk - 3 seats
• Lijst 7 (Wouters) - 1 seat

The negotiations are finished and the PvdA, CDA and VVD wil govern together

History

It is not certain where the name of Heemskerk comes from. The town was already known during the Middle Ages. In an official deed from the year of 1063, the town was known as Hemezen Kyrica, Latinized Frisian meaning Church of Hemezen, a Frisian nun who lived in a religious house there. Heemskerk knows many historical monuments, among them the Huldtoneel (lit. the "Inaugurate Stage"), an artificial hill located near the current Rijksstraatweg, where once the Counts of Holland where inaugurated. According to tradition, the Huldtoneel was used before the Roman Era as a Germanic sanctuary. In the nineteenth century Jonkheer Gevers finally made the Huldtoneel a monument - as it is known today - and ordered passers-by to honour the monument.

Many battles have been fought in Heemskerk. Two castles - Castle Oud Haerlem and Castle Heemskerk - were built in the twelfth and thirteenth century respectively to protect the County of Holland against the West Frisians. In the fifteenth century the residents of Heemskerk fought each other during the Hook and Cod wars, in which both castles were destroyed. The Oud Haerlem castle was never rebuilt, Castle Heemskerk however was. In 1492 a rebellion by the people of Kennemerland was brutally beaten down by the Austrian conquerors, on the place where today the cemetery of the Hervormde Kerk (Reformed Church) is located.

Castle Heemskerk circa 1630.

In 1610 the Castle Heemskerk was renamed to Castle Marquette and was at first the residence for many nobles and later inhabited by patricians. The last noble family that lived there were the House of Gevers. Today Castle Marquette is owned by the Spanish hotelgroup NH Hoteles and is the site of many weddings, conferences, and company courses, while the estate grounds are favoured for wedding photos.

Located on the eastside of Heemskerk is Castle Assumburg, built from the remains of Kasteel Oud Haerlem in 1546. The Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church) at the Nielenplein and Kerkplein is built in 1628, but it has a tower from the Middle Ages. In the square around the church is a monument dedicated to the painter Maarten van Heemskerck.

Agricultural village

The old village around 1915-30.

After the time of knights and nobles, Heemskerk remained a small, quiet village near the dunes. Its residents, who mainly worked in agriculture and keeping cattle, had good, but also some very bad times. From the time that products - mainly strawberries for the neighbouring town Beverwijk, where the fruits were sold - were brought to the market with donkeys, people from Heemskerk got the name of Donkey as a nickname and symbol.

The former town hall was built in 1911 after a design by Jan Stuyt and was raised with an additional floor in 1949. Today this is the building where Janssen's notary office is located. The Roman Catholic Laurentiuskerk (locally better known as the "Lau"), designed by architect J.H. Tonnaer, was completed in 1891 and is a rare example of a Catholic church in neo-renaissance style. There is nothing left of other historical monuments, like Castle Oud Haerlem.

Transportation

• Railway Station: Heemskerk

Notable people born in Heemskerk

• Maarten van Heemskerck (1498 - 1574), painter.
• Bart Schraa (22 November 1968), football player: Bayer Leverkusen, FC Schalke 04, Arminia Bielefeld.
• Arthur Numan (14 December 1969), football player: HFC Haarlem, FC Twente, PSV, Rangers.
• Peter Wijker (20 July 1971), football player: AZ, FC Volendam.
• Dennis Lens (25 September 1977), badminton player.
• Raymond Bronckhorst (6 August 1978), football player: FC Groningen, SC Cambuur.
• Rafael van der Vaart (11 February 1983), football player: AFC Ajax, Hamburger SV, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur
• Julián Contreras (3 May 1983), football player: CD Buenavista (Spain)
• Ernesto Fritz Hoost "Mr Perfect" (July 11, 1965), four-time K-1 World Champion: Vos Gym (1987-2006), Sokudo Gym (1981-1987) (Retired)
• Sofie van den Enk (23 August 1980), television presenter.

References

• Statistics are taken from the SDU Staatscourant

External links

• A map of Heemskerk
• http://www.polsstokverspringen.nl/ Horizontal pole-vaulting across the Neksloot
• http://www.heemskerkinbeeld.nl