18 January 2013

The Dutch Approach

Shortly after Christmas I had the pleasure to visit Roermond (...again; I love the Netherlands and the Dutch), a lovely small town on the Maas river in the southeastern Dutch province of Limburg.

Destroyed in 1213 by Otto IV of Brunswick, by 1232 the town was rebuilt and was granted its own seal, reign, mint, court and city rights.

On the outskirts is a thoroughly modern (and very good) outlet mall designed to resemble a cozy village (hmm), but the town centre is the really interesting part, from the Minster Church ("Munsterkerk") to the market place, from the Rattentoren to City Hall and the small pleasure boat harbour on the Maas.

Though modernism is obviously absent from the landmarked town centre, I love the uncomplicated Dutch approach to architecture:

Market place
Town Hall, detail
Designer Outlet Mall
Roer river
Condominiums on the Maas river. Note the street under the building
Market place
Pastoorswal, heading towards town centre
Other bank of the Roer river
Wait – we can fit another house in here

(Sorry for the muddy pix; wrong choice of equipment for the day).