Netherlands Landmarks
North Sea Jazz Festival
The North Sea Jazz Festival is one of the largest and most important jazz festivals in the world. The festival takes place annually on the second weekend in July in the Dutch metropolis of Rotterdam and attracts a total of up to 70,000 music fans from all over the world. The North Sea Jazz Festival premiered in 1976 at the Congresgebouw in The Hague. After the festival grew in importance in the following years, it moved to Ahoy Rotterdam, the largest event hall in Europe, in 2006. On the three days of the festival, a total of up to 100 artists from a wide variety of music fields will be on stage – from jazz to blues to soul.
World stars like Miles Davis and Alica Keys and hopeful talents
In recent years, international stars such as Carlos Santana, Alicia Keys, Miles Davis and Macy Gray have been among the artists. In addition to the famous stars of the scene, numerous talented local musicians also perform on stage at the North Sea Jazz Festival every year. At the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Paul-Acket-Award, which is named after the founder of the festival Paul Acket, is presented annually as an award for special merits in jazz music. As part of the festival, there is also a one-day festival for children, the North Sea Jazz Kids, with workshops and performances.
European Fine Art Fair
The European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht in the south of the Netherlands is the largest art and antiques fair in the world. A total of 265 renowned art dealers from 22 countries buy and sell, among other things, world-famous art masterpieces and valuable antiques at the ten-day fair that takes place every spring in the Maastricht Exhibition & Congress Center.
The most important galleries and art dealers in the world are represented among the exhibitors at the European Fine Art Fair. Visitors include collectors and art lovers from all over the world. On offer are tens of thousands of high-quality paintings, pieces of jewelry, sculptures and other art objects from the most varied of eras, which are divided into nine different sections.
In the run-up to the fair, each of the exhibits is checked for 100% authenticity in an extremely strict selection process by almost 200 internationally renowned art experts in a total of 29 categories.
The European Fine Art Fair was launched in 1988. In recent years the fair has developed into one of the most important art fairs in the world with more than 70,000 visitors. The organizers focus on excellence, know-how and elegance. In addition to the countless works of art, there are also many restaurants and food courts in which visitors and exhibitors can fortify themselves.
Kröller-Müller Museum
The Kröller-Müller Museum is an art museum in the Dutch town of Otterlo near Alkmaar, which is known far beyond the Dutch national borders. Among other things, the world-famous museum has the second largest Vincent van Gogh collection in the world with a total of 87 paintings and around 180 drawings by the most famous Dutch painter. But also numerous paintings by other world-famous painters such as Claude Monet or Pablo Picasso attract thousands of art-loving visitors from all over the world every year. The museum consists of a simple building and an extension built in the 1970s. In addition to a few small rooms for various special exhibitions, there is also a small museum café to relax in.
Largest sculpture garden in Europe on 25 hectares
Another big highlight of the Kröller-Müller Museum is the largest sculpture garden in Europe, which surrounds the museum on a total area of 25 hectares. More than 160 small and large sculptures by well-known artists of the 19th and 20th centuries can be found in the area, which is laid out as a garden that is well worth seeing. At regular intervals, special exhibitions on various art eras or themes take place in the idyllically located museum, which is located in the middle of the Hoge Veluwe National Park. The Kröller-Müller Museum, which goes back to the initiative of the German-Dutch painter and art collector Helene Kröller-Müller, opened on July 13, 1938.
Bourtange
Historical development
The former Bourtange Castle is located in Groningen in the Netherlands. It was built in 1580 under the orders of William I of Orange. The original purpose of the castle was to control the only road between Germany and the Dutch city of Groningen that the Spanish controlled during the Eighty Years War. The construction of the fortress was completed in 1593 and was always adapted and changed to technical progress during the Thirty Years War. It could never be conquered by attackers during the war or in the rest of the next few decades. The fortress Bourtange was repaired several times, then fell into disrepair and was restored again, it was finally given up militarily in 1851 and converted into a fortress town.
From the fortress to the museum
After it was converted into a village in 1851, people’s living conditions began to deteriorate. Over 100 years later, in 1960, the local government decided that to combat this growing problem, the old fortress should be restored to its appearance from 1740 to 1950 and converted into a historical museum. This brought valuable tourism to the surrounding village. The fort and what is now the museum village of Bourtange are now a tourist attraction in the area. In addition to four museums, an information center, a history shop, cafés and restaurants, there is also a hotel in the castle. Many interesting events and festivals take place in the fortress in the summer months and make the gloomy Middle Ages come alive.
