Arnhem (/ˈɑːrnəm/,[6][7] also US: /ˈɑːrnhɛm/,[8][9] Dutch: [ˈɑrnɛm] (About this soundlisten) or [ˈɑrnɦɛm] (About this soundlisten); German: Arnheim; South Guelderish: Èrnem) is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located on both banks of the rivers Nederrijn and Sint-Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem had a population of 159,265 in 2019 and is one of the larger cities of the Netherlands. The municipality is part of the Arnhem–Nijmegen metropolitan area which has a combined 736,500 inhabitants.[citation needed]

Arnhem is home to the Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen, ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, Netherlands Open Air Museum, Airborne Museum 'Hartenstein', Royal Burgers' Zoo, NOC*NSF and National Sports Centre Papendal. The north corner of the municipality is part of the Hoge Veluwe National Park. It is approximately 55 square kilometers in area, consisting of heathlands, sand dunes, and woodlands.[citation needed]

Contents

1 History

1.1 Early history

1.2 Middle Ages

1.3 16th and 17th century

1.4 18th and 19th century

1.5 The Battle of Arnhem

1.6 Liberation

2 Geography

2.1 Neighbourhoods

2.2 Neighbouring villages

2.3 Proximity of border with Germany

2.4 Climate

3 Demographics

3.1 Inhabitants by nationality

4 Places of interest

4.1 Parks

4.2 Museums in and around Arnhem

4.3 Buildings and locations

5 Events

6 Sport

7 Transport

8 Notable residents

9 Facts and figures

10 International relations

10.1 Twin towns – Sister cities

11 See also

12 References

13 External links

History

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Early history

Old city hall

The oldest archeological findings of human activity around Arnhem are two firestones of about 70,000 years ago. These come from the Stone Age, when the Neanderthals lived in this part of Europe. In Schuytgraaf, remnants of a hunters camp from around 5000 BC have been discovered. In Schaarsbergen, twelve grave mounds were found from 2400 BC, which brought the so-called Neolithic Revolution to the area of Arnhem, which meant the rise of the farmers.

The earliest settlement in Arnhem dates from 1500 BC, of which traces have been found on the Hoogkamp, where the Van Goyenstraat is currently located. In the inner city, around the Sint-Jansbeek, traces of settlement have been found from around 700 BC, while the first traces south of the Rhine have been found dating to around 500 BC, in the Schuytgraaf.

Though the early tracks of settlements did show that the early residents of Arnhem descended from the forests on the hills, Arnhem was not built on the banks of the river Rhine, but a little higher along the Sint-Jansbeek. Arnhem arose on the location where the road between Nijmegen and Utrecht and Zutphen split. Seven streams provided the city with water, and only when the flow of the Rhine was changed in 1530, was the city located on the river.

Middle Ages

Arnhem was first mentioned as such in 893 as Arneym or Arentheym. In 1233, Count Otto II of Guelders from Zutphen, conferred city rights on the town, which had belonged to the abbey of Prüm, settled in, and fortified it. Arnhem entered the Hanseatic League in 1443. In 1473, it was captured by Charles the Bold of Burgundy.

16th and 17th century

In 1514, Charles of Egmond, duke of Guelders, took it from the dukes of Burgundy; in 1543, it fell to the emperor Charles V. As capital of the so-called "Kwartier van Veluwe" it joined the Union of Utrecht during the Eighty Years' War in 1579. After its capture from the Spanish forces by Dutch and English troops in 1585 the city became part of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands. The French occupied the town from 1672 to 1674.

18th and 19th century

Huis Zypendaal

From 1795 to 1813, it was reoccupied by the French, by both revolutionary and imperial forces.

In the early 19th century, the former fortifications were almost completely dismantled, to give space for town expansion. The Sabelspoort (Sabresgate) is the only remaining part of the medieval walls.

In the 19th century, Arnhem was a genteel resort town famous for its picturesque beauty. It was known as "het Haagje van het oosten" (The Little Hague of the East), mainly because a number of rich former sugar barons or planters from the Indies settled there, as they did in The Hague. Even now the city is famous for its parks and greenery. The urbanization in the north on hilly terrain is also quite unusual for the Netherlands.

The Battle of Arnhem

Main article: Battle of Arnhem

Battle of Arnhem

In the Second World War (1939–1945), during Operation Market Garden (September 1944), the British 1st Airborne Division, under the command of Major-General Roy Urquhart, and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were given the task of securing the bridge at Arnhem.

Glider infantry and paratrooper units were landed into the area on 17 September and later. The bulk of the force was dropped rather far from the bridge and never met their objective. A small element of the British 1st Airborne, the 2nd Parachute Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel John D. Frost, managed to make its way as far as the bridge but was unable to secure both sides. The British troops encountered stiff resistance from the German 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions, which had been stationed in and around the city.

The John Frost Bridge, seen from the Airborne memorial

The British force at the bridge eventually ran out of ammunition and was captured on 21 September, and a full withdrawal of the remaining forces was made on 26 September. These events were dramatized in the 1977 movie A Bridge Too Far. (The bridge scenes in the movie were shot in Deventer, where a similar bridge over the IJssel was available, as the area around Arnhem bridge had changed too much to represent WWII-era Arnhem). As a tribute, the rebuilt bridge was renamed 'John Frost Bridge' after the commander of the paratroopers. The official commemoration is 17 September.

The current bridge is the third almost-identical bridge built at the same spot. The Dutch Army destroyed the first bridge when the German Army invaded the Netherlands in 1940. The second bridge was destroyed by the United States Army Air Forces shortly after the 1944 battle.

Liberation

Main article: Liberation of Arnhem

A second battle of Arnhem took place in April 1945 when the city was liberated by the British 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division fighting as part of the First Canadian Army.

Just outside Arnhem, in the town of Oosterbeek the Commonwealth War Graves Commission built the Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery which contains the graves of most of those killed during the September landings, and many of those killed in later fighting in the area.

The city also hosted the 1980 Summer Paralympics.

Geography

Neighbourhoods

Topographic map of Arnhem, 2014

The municipality of Arnhem consists of the city of Arnhem and the following surrounding suburbs and former villages:

Elden, Netherlands (former village, now totally surrounded by other Arnhem neighbourhoods)

Schaarsbergen

Arnhem consists of three districts (stadsdelen) and 24 neighbourhoods (wijken). Each neighbourhood has a number which corresponds to its postal code.

Arnhem Centrum (Binnenstad)

Arnhem-North (Spijkerkwartier, Arnhemse Broek, Presikhaaf-West, Presikhaaf-East, St. Marten/Sonsbeek-Zuid, Klarendal, Velperweg, Alteveer en Cranevelt, Geitenkamp, Monnikenhuizen, Burgemeesterswijk/Hoogkamp, Heijenoord/Lombok, Klingelbeek)

Arnhem-South (Malburgen-West, Malburgen-East (North), Malburgen-East (South), De Laar East/West, Vredenburg/Kronenburg, Elderveld, Rijkerswoerd, Schuytgraaf)

Neighbouring villages

The outlying areas of the following villages are bordering the municipality of Arnhem directly, which means among others that in many a case a considerable number of their inhabitants originate from Arnhem.

Velp

Oosterbeek

Driel

Elst

Huissen

Wolfheze

Rozendaal

Westervoort

Proximity of border with Germany

The city lies a few kilometers from the border with Germany, and to some extent the westernmost villages in the municipality of Elten, Germany, function as dormitories for people who work in the Dutch city of Arnhem in part due to the immigration of Dutch people from the region that were attracted by the lower house pricing just across the border.

Climate

Arnhem features the same climate (Cfb, oceanic climate) as all of the Netherlands, however, its location on the foothills of the Veluwe, the largest forest in the Netherlands, contributes to some higher precipitation values.

Climate data for Arnhem, Netherlands

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

Record high °C (°F) 14.5

(58.1) 17.0

(62.6) 24.68

(76.42) 29.4

(84.9) 31.6

(88.9) 33.9

(93.0) 39.2

(102.6) 37.2

(99.0) 32.7

(90.9) 26.4

(79.5) 18.5

(65.3) 15.2

(59.4) 37.2

(99.0)

Average high °C (°F) 5.0

(41.0) 5.9

(42.6) 9.7

(49.5) 14.0

(57.2) 18.1

(64.6) 20.5

(68.9) 22.9

(73.2) 22.5

(72.5) 18.9

(66.0) 14.2

(57.6) 9.0

(48.2) 5.4

(41.7) 13.8

(56.8)

Daily mean °C (°F) 2.4

(36.3) 2.7

(36.9) 5.6

(42.1) 8.9

(48.0) 13.0

(55.4) 15.5

(59.9) 17.8

(64.0) 17.3

(63.1) 14.2

(57.6) 10.3

(50.5) 6.1

(43.0) 3.0

(37.4) 9.7

(49.5)

Average low °C (°F) −0.4

(31.3) −0.5

(31.1) 1.6

(34.9) 3.6

(38.5) 7.5

(45.5) 10.0

(50.0) 12.4

(54.3) 12.0

(53.6) 9.7

(49.5) 6.5

(43.7) 3.1

(37.6) 0.3

(32.5) 5.5

(41.9)

Record low °C (°F) −24.2

(−11.6) −23.2

(−9.8) −17.0

(1.4) −9.4

(15.1) −4.5

(23.9) −0.9

(30.4) 2.0

(35.6) 2.4

(36.3) −0.9

(30.4) −6.5

(20.3) −9.9

(14.2) −18.4

(−1.1) −24.2

(−11.6)

Average precipitation mm (inches) 88.8

(3.50) 65.3

(2.57) 81.6

(3.21) 50.5

(1.99) 69.3

(2.73) 73.3

(2.89) 80.3

(3.16) 73.8

(2.91) 78.8

(3.10) 82.7

(3.26) 90.7

(3.57) 93.1

(3.67) 928.2

(36.54)

Mean monthly sunshine hours 56.9 81.7 115.9 166.3 196.7 181.9 193.8 178.1 134.3 110.1 60.8 45.7 1,522.2

Source: knmi.nl (Klimaatatlas van Nederland, normaalperiode 1981–2010, http://www.klimaatatlas.nl/tabel/stationsdata/klimtab_8110_275.pdf)[10]

Demographics

Inhabitants by nationality

Arnhem residents by nationality (1 January 2017)

Nationality 2017

Netherlands Netherlands 107,424

European Union Western immigrants 17,860

Turkey Turkey 6,353

Morocco Morocco 9,468

Suriname Suriname 3,267

Netherlands Dutch Caribbean 2,595

Other non-western 12,727

Places of interest

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City centre

The Grote Kerk (St. Eusebius' Church), built 1452–1560, lost most of its tower during World War II, of which a part has been reconstructed to a modern design and opened in 1964. Officially the tower is not part of the church and is owned by the municipality.

The house of Maarten van Rossum, a general serving Duke Charles van Gelre, has been the town hall since 1830: The satyrs in its Renaissance ornamentation earned it the name Duivelshuis (devil's house). The Netherlands Open Air Museum is located outside the city. It includes antique houses, farms, factories, and windmills from different parts of the Netherlands. Two other windmills stand in Arnhem itself, De Hoop and De Kroon.

The Royal Burgers' Zoo in Arnhem is one of the biggest and most-visited zoos in the Netherlands, featuring an underwater walkthrough, desert, mangrove, and rainforest. The GelreDome, the home of Vitesse Arnhem, the city's Eredivisie team in football, is a unique facility that features a retractable roof and a slide-out grass pitch. The concept has been fully duplicated since then by the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, U.S., and partially by the Sapporo Dome in Japan (which has a sliding pitch but a fixed roof).

The KEMA Toren (formerly known as SEP Control Tower) is the highest structure of the town. It is a 140-m-high TV tower.

Parks

Sonsbeek Park (Urban park)

Zypendaal Park

Veluwezoom National Park

Hoge Veluwe National Park

Museums in and around Arnhem

Netherlands Open Air Museum

Airborne Museum 'Hartenstein'

Gemeentemuseum

Museum Bronbeek

Buildings and locations

Musis Sacrum

Arnhem Centrum

Station Square

Burgers Zoo

Events