St. Martin's Courier Special Edition: (Modern) Monuments

Dear readers, On behalf of our pupils, I would like to thank you for reading our second special edition of the St. Martin’s Courier. After our very successful Murals edition, we had to come up with something new. But what?

When I was around our pupils’ age, I wanted to become an architect. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately �) my maths skills were not great, so I became a teacher. However, I still love to look at beautiful statues, parks and buildings. Because of the design, but also because of their (cultural, historic or emotional) importance. I have my favourites and it got me thinking: what other nice places could I visit and why (according to our pupils) are these worth seeing?

And that ladies and gentlemen brings us to the topic of this Specials Edition. For a lack of a better definition, we are branding it (Modern) Monuments.

The pupils of V2at and B2at (school year 2018/2019) worked on their essay assignment, to find out more about their ‘monument’ and to improve their English writing skills. The pupils could choose a topic by using rijksmonumenten.nl or think of an original modern new entry with a cultural or emotional importance.

The pupils chose their own ‘monument’ and wrote the essays you are about to read. I am happy to report that the pupils were able to put together a fantastic issue and I must say that I am extremely proud to share the end result with all of you.

As has been the case from the start, this Editor in Chief helped them along the way, but did not interfere in their writing process or what they were writing about. This also means that there might be mistakes in grammar and spelling, but I hope you will agree that this in no way affects the quality of the articles.

You can also find our up-to-date stories, pictures and videos about our bilingual department on Facebook: StMartinsCourier and follow us on Instagram @st.martins.courier You can also find our previous issues and the Murals special on our issuu website: issuu.com/st.martinscourier . Definitely worth the visit!

Questions, remarks, suggestions? courier@sintermeerten.nl !

Dennis van Roekel Editor In Chief St. Martin’s Courier tto coordinator (havo-vwo)

I am going to write about the Pancratius kerk in Heerlen. I chose this topic because the church is in the middle of Heerlen and everyone from Heerlen knows the church.

A study of another church (onze-lievevrouwebasiliek in Maastricht) concludes that the building of the church started in the first half of the 12th century. However, from a new study appears that the church is even older: from the 10th/11th century. Between 1632 and 1836 the church was shared by the Catholics and Protestants, in 1836 the Protestants built their own church, so the arrangement ended. In 1862 a new stair tower was built on the south side of the church. Joseph Cuypers renovated and enlarged the church. The choir was broken down and replaced by a new eastern part, with a crossing tower and a new choir, all in neo-Romanesque style using marl stone. Frits Peutz, best known for the Glaspaleis supervised the repair of war damage between 1945 and 1948. (In 1943 the bells were taken from the tower by the Germans. In the New Year's Night 1944-45 the northern side aisle was badly damaged by a high-explosive bomb). In 1960 a sacristy and a baptistery were built on the south side. Now the church is still used for masses, for example with carnival there is a carnivals mass.

I think the church looks nice, I especially like the marl stone they used to build it. You can see from the outside that the church was damaged during the war because there are still some holes from bullets.

From the inside the church has nice stained glass windows and in the middle of the church you can look into the tower.

This was my essay about the Pancratius kerk in Heerlen. I hope you learned something from it and you enjoyed my story.

The ‘’Sibbergroeve’’ is a marl quarry in the village of Sibbe, in the Dutch municipality of Valkenburg aan de Geul. I chose this subject, because it is in my hometown and I think it is a special thing to write about. A marl quarry you will not see often, and especially (almost) never, with a chapel in it. Another thing to write about this is that my name is in the marl quarry: I was allowed to when there was an anniversary year of the carnival club when I myself was a youth prince.

The quarry has probably been in use since the Middle Ages and was initially intended primarily for local use. Over the centuries, a corridor system was created with a length of approximately 30 km. Around 1850 the "new mountain" was taken into use. A new entrance was made for this at the Bergstraat-Lokerstraat junction, which is currently in use.

The ‘’Sibbergroeve’’ has been used since the fifteenth century and has an estimated total length of approximately 140 km. It is currently the only marl quarry in the Netherlands where marl stone is still extracted in an old- fashioned way from an underground tunnel system.

The quarry will be operated by two construction and restoration companies that specialize in the extraction and processing of marl stone, each with around 15 employees. The processed marl blocks are used in both (smallscale) new construction projects and restorations of monuments. The quarry is maintained by national monuments, but the quarry itself is not a monument. In the ''Sibbergroeve’’ is also a chapel and a shelter, dating from the French period (1794-1814), when many priests had to go into hiding because they refused to renounce the oath of kingship and anarchy. The shelter chapel of Sibbe was probably made in 1800 by Joannis Claessens, at least the altar. The shelter chapel arose because, from 1794 the southern Netherlands and therefore also the current Limburg, were under French rule. The strong influence of the church on society was then tackled hard at the time. Priests came to serve the state and had to take an oath of allegiance to the French constitution. This was called an oath of hate because at that time it was also necessary to declare to hate monarchy and anarchy. A large part of the priests refused and continued illegally, literally underground to care for the soul. You were safe in the quarry, the enemy never dared to enter so far into the quarry, if you don't know the way, you will get lost. Escape routes had also been created with the locals. Because there were many priests there had to be a chapel. The chapel was equipped with altars, confessionals, a baptismal font and beautiful charcoal drawings. People stayed here with just about everything they owned and that was mainly cattle at that time. So the cattle also went inside and there was milk and possibly meat to survive.

You can enter, but only if there is a guide with you or if the manager of the chapel is there. This is a thing that I dislike about it, but it is also quite logical, because you can get lost easily in a cave with a total length of 140 km.

When I went in, I first had to walk 200m down. The ceiling was very low on some parts, so you sometimes had to stoop. There is almost no light in the quarry, so you must take a flashlight with you. If you are there you will see a lot of frescos made with charcoal. There are also many mementos on the walls, for example after the second world war, a drawing was made, as a tribute to several deceased American soldiers, who died in the vicinity of a plane crash. Also, a lot of other things are written on the walls. If you are standing in front of the chapel and all the candles are on, it will give you a great feeling, and it is so beautiful.

After that time, the shelter was only used during the second world war. At that time, people from Sibbe also sought protection in the '' Sibbergroeve'' and in this chapel. Now the chapel is no longer used, officially it can still be used, because it still has an original baptismal font. Nowadays you can plan a guided walk and / or a guided cycle route through the caves. This is done by a company named ASP adventure, and of course you will visit the beautiful chapel. Every Thursday this summer, you can get an explanation of the marl cave by experienced guides. I recommend it.

I chose this topic because the Sint-Laurentius church is located in downtown Voerendaal, the place where I live.

It's a very special church, because it's one of the three churches in the Netherlands that is initiated by a pope. This means the church is blessed by a pope. Pope Leo IX blessed the church in the year 1049. He was the only pope that visited the Netherlands until pope Johannes Paulus II came to the Netherlands. Pope Leo IX travelled all over the world with the intention of converting the population to Christianity again. Actually, Pope Leo IX visited Charlemagne (Aachen). At that time the bishop Odo van Toul was also owner of the greater territory around Charlemagne , where Heerlen and later Voerendaal belonged to.

The church, a roman catholic church, was built in several stages. The first part was built in the 11th century.

The only part that’s left from the 11th century is the roman tower. The other parts of the church are dated from 1840, the current single-aisle cross the church consists of a central nave, and transept, priest's choir and an apse from 1917. The church is built as a cross church. This means that the building plans has the shape of a cross. The architect was Jean Dumoulin. He built this as replacement for an older church that he earlier made in his career. But there is nothing about written down or noted. The original parts were built with Kunradersteen: it is a chalk stone. Even these days you can buy Kunradersteen at the quarry in Voerendaal. In 1840 they used red brick stone to build the middle ship.

The last part was built in 1917 on the east side. The architect was Jan Stuyt. He once again used the Kunradersteen. He built a transept onto it. This is a Roman design that was used in cathedrals, but those days also used in churches. There was a small renovation in 1984 and a big one in 2011. In 2011 they renovated the tower. They added lights to the clock and lightning rods. Inside the church they replaced the plumbing between the coloured glasses. The paintings were renovated and the placed marlstone graveyards were replaced.

When you know the story about the several stages and years of building the church, you will notice the difference in the parts of stone they used when you look at the church. When you visit the church, you will see how beautiful it is on the inside. The paintings on the wall and also the glass and lead windows.

Especially when the sun lightens up the colourful glasses. There's also a special room where you can be baptised. The room has a font from the 12th century, made from Namur stone.

After reading this text I hope you liked it and learned something about this nice church. And want to visit it for yourself.

Another name that most people use is the Bernardinus chapel. A chapel is a small building or place for religious acts. The chapel is literally connected with the school Bernardinus. Bernardinus is on the Akerstraat, 6417 BP Heerlen. The school is named after a Franciscan monk. Bernardus lived in the 15th century in Italy.

He played a major role in the religious revival led by the ideals of Franciscus. Five centuries later in Italy his ideals still inspired education and culture.

The architect of the new chapel is Jos Wielders. He was born in 1883. I chose this topic because I always saw the chapel when I cycled to primary school. When I looked at the chapel the first time I saw an old building where the door was almost always closed. First I didn’t even know what the building was. I thought it maybe was a part of the school for lessons, but I never expected that there was a chapel next to the school.

There is one thing that I don’t like about the chapel that is that it looks so old. I don’t really like old buildings.

In 1913 the Sint Bernardinuscollege was built. It was decided to build a chapel next to the monastery. The new chapel was designed by Jos Wielders in 1931 and built by the contractor Reubsaet. It is mainly built of concrete and brick. It was made like this because they had to watch out for mine damage. Originally there was a monastery garden next to the chapel, which has been transformed into a parking lot in front of the Bernardinuscollege. At the back of the chapel there is an apse located. An apse is an area with curved walls at the end of a building, usually at the east end of a church. On one side of the apse there is a sacristy and a smaller sacristy on the other side. A sacristy is a room in a church where a priest prepares for a service, and where vestments and articles of worship are kept. The smaller one is now used as a meeting place. Under the apse there is a crypt. A crypt is an underground space in a church building, often intended as cemetery. Until the end of the 20th century there were about twenty graves. These twenty graves were from the period between 1934-1981.

The interior of the chapel consists of a nave with six blunt pointed arches of concrete covered with brickwork. In front of the apse is a cross made of brick. Next to the cross are four paintings, two on each side. The wide stainedglass windows were made in 1932, from a design by Charles Eyck. The small stained-glass windows were made from a design by Renald Rats.

The chapel is in possession of two church organs. In 1932 organ builder Pels made a two-man organ, this organ was placed in the organ loft. In 2009 the other organ was placed in the sanctuary. This organ was made in 1887 that served in Ubachsberg until 1986. In the sixties there were baptisms, marriages and funerals held in the chapel.

On 20 July 1999 the chapel was registered as a monument in the national monument register.

The church is considered a style icon for the city of Heerlen from the time of the mining industry. Furthermore, the chapel is of general interest because of its architectural completeness and the connection between architecture and the visual arts. From all the art in the chapel, the windows of Charles Eyck are the most eyecatching.

Previously the students from Bernardinus go there in their first year so they know what it looks from the inside.

But now Bernardinus isn’t allowed to do that anymore, just as they are no longer allowed to keep a graduation ceremony in the chapel. The difference between a church and a chapel is that a church is a place where believers come together to pray and attend a mass. A chapel is smaller and is a church that does not have the status of a parish church. Another difference is that a churches are big buildings but a chapel is a small building and its so much smaller than a church.

I will tell you about the Kapel Savelbergklooster located at the Gasthuisstraat 2, I chose this topic because I was looking for a monument that had enough historical things about it, if you wonder how I got all this information?

I went there and saw a paper on the door that said that I could visit it if I had an appointment, I immediately recognized the name of the contact that was mentioned. He was one of my teachers!

So I knew how I could get more information, so I mailed him and asked if he had some information for me, as expected he had!

Now you will read much information about the monument.

The white part of the building dates from the 18th century and has been used as a cafĂŠ. It was purchased by the Franciscan Sisters from Heythuisen in the mid-19th century and was converted into a monastery. In 1871/1872, Monsignor Petrus Joseph Savelberg bought it from the sisters to start his own monastery there.

He had seen as a priest that help was needed. You have to realize that when industrialization started and Heerlen started to develop from a village to a city with a regional function. In 1872 the building became the birthplace of the Heerlen congregation: The Little Sisters of St. Joseph. The chapel was built in 1878. This is a design by the architect Kayser from Roermond. He was a student of the famous architect Pierre Cuypers (also the designer of the central station and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam). It is a neo-gothic design with terra-cotta elements around windows and doors.

Until 1916 the building was the mother house of the congregation. Then it became too small and it was sold to another group of sisters (the Carmel sisters). In the 1930s, the sisters bought the building back and redecorated it, and so the Joseph-Savelberg Monastery was created. That existed until 2004. Then the sisters took the initiative to rebuild the monastery and turn it into a museum, bring the building back to its original proportions and withdraw the chapel from worship and transform it into a multifunctional space. This restoration was supervised by none other than the famous architect Jo Coenen. The permanent exhibition was realized by the "new collection" from Amsterdam and gives a glimpse into 147 years of congregation history.

If you are in front of the former monastery, you can also see a third building. the chapel of Monsignor Petrus Joseph Savelberg. The chapel was built in 1960 and is a design by Anton Swinkels. You think it's beautiful or beautiful in ugliness. It is an example of typical 50s-60s architecture. Special is the light and the beautiful artwork above the sarcophagus of the founder. This is a mosaic of the well-known Limburg artist Gene Eggen, representing led by van Lourdes.

Personally I didn’t really like the building itself, because it looked very much like a church, but if you get the information about its historical story. I did like to do research about it and find out who owned it and why, if you stand in front of it you can see it has many different shapes and the windows are very detailed, you can also see the cone on top which really expressed itself.

Hello everyone, I’m Maxim and I am going to write about the Nederlands Hervormde Kerk. I chose this topic because I wanted to know more about it. The church is located in Heerlen on Tempsplein 14, It is a couple of streets away from where I live.

They began to build it in the year of 1931 and was finished in November of 1932. The architects of the church are Jan and Theo Stuivinga. It was built on the corner of Tempslein and is connected to a guest house via a hallway. In 1974 a floor layer was built behind the church. The church and the guest house got renovated in 1993, there were additional windows placed with stained glass inside of them. They used the floor layer behind the church to make a small parking lot for the people that live nearby.

When I look at the Nederlands Hervormde Kerk I see a beautiful stone building with four equal sides with a nice high gable roof on top, also a high tower with a gable roof on top of it, the tower is in between 2 arms of the building. It has nice stained glass and a big wooden door in front of it. The architects were inspired by the Berlagian style, that’s why they used the gable roof on top of the building. What I find most beautiful about the building is that they used a typical Dutch thing, red Dutch roof tiles!

The church and the guest's house are important because of the reasonably high degree of architectural integrity of the exterior and interior and important in relation to the visual integrity of the urban environment. The Nederlands Hervormde Kerk and the guest's house are of general interest due to the function and use of this church within the predominantly Catholic Limburg.

The second Rear view of the church on the south side has three windows with skylight in the first layer and two narrow windows in layer 2. On the left against this facade is the connecting corridor to the house. This has a floor under a gable roof. The left arm of the building on the west side has the same construction as the end of the right cross arm, but has no buttresses. The church and the guest’s house both are located under a gable roof. The facades of the church and the dwelling have a brick construction in a Flemish context and a plinth with a roll layer.

In the facades there are rectangular wooden window frames with stained glass and brick sills, and pointed arch doors.

The interior of the church has a room with a T-shaped form with a big wooden pole above which the oxal is located and two cross arms. The oxal has wooden benches located behind a wooden wall. The four arms of the cross are separated from each other for pointed arches. The pointed arch-shaped ceiling has panelling of Swedish pine parts with ribs supported by small consoles. The middle part of the church has a big space for benches to sit on.

I never really went inside the church before we got this assignment to write about a Rijksmonument. Thanks for reading my essay about the Nederlands Hervormde Kerk.

The St. St. Josephkerk, Heerlerbaan is a church in the Dutch city Heerlen and the church is on the Dr. Clemens Meulemanstraat 1. I chose the St. St. Josephkerk, Heerlerbaan as my topic because I cycle past this church every day when I go to school and I have been to this church a couple of times with Christmas when there was a Christmas show.

When I look at the church I see a big stone building with a weird clock tower next to it. I wouldn’t immediately say that it is a church when you look at the building because it looks modern and I think the design of the clocktower is nice and simple. I don’t really like how they have made the windows of the church because they are a bit too simple if you compare them to windows of other churches.

The church was built in 1957 but it was a replacement for another church from 1917. The first church was built around the time the first miners' houses where build and the church was designed by Jos Sleelen. In 1923 the construction of the first church was finished. Just before the second world war the church started to show some serious cracks because of the mining activities in the area. Steel nets were hung in the church's nave to catch falling debris. The clock tower had tilted 1.65 meter already when they decided to demolish the church in 1944 because of safety considerations. They started building a new church which is the church we have today: the St. Josephkerk.

The building of the St. Josephkerk started on 27 October 1957 under the pastors B. Diederen and pastor G.B.J. Horsmans. The church was finished in 1960. They took a couple of precautionary measures to prevent recurrence such as: The mining companies accelerated the construction of coal under the construction site to prevent subsidence as much as possible. Despite the special construction, the mine damage also took its toll on the new church. The newspaper reported in 1968 that the church "was about to collapse" and that iron trusses had to be mounted under the concrete rafters in a hurry. In 1982, the floor next to the liturgical centre was raised for the choir. One of the side altars was cancelled.

The Exterior of the church is different than most other churches. The Joseph church has a concrete skeleton left in sight that is filled with roughly chopped blocks of Kunrader stone. The completely open concrete church tower stands, connected to the church by an arcade, on the corner of the facade. A dial is mounted on each side. The tower has a flat roof with a cross on it. In 1992, the Saint Joseph Chapel was given new doors. The day chapel, which existed from the beginning, was refurbished in 1997. There are 3 outside doors that lead into the church, inside of the church is just one big room with four rows of seats. A wide centre aisle and two narrower side paths run between the benches. At the back of the church you can enter the Sint-Jozef Chapel and the Baptistery from the processional corridors. The chapels have an almost square floor plan and straight ceilings. From the baptistery is a door that leads to the colonnade, to which church and campanile are connected.

The two-man organ built in 1930 by Pels (Alkmaar) for the previous church is also used here. This organ is no longer intact. In addition, the church has had a choir organ from Verschueren Orgelbouw (Heythuyzen) since 1982, placed to the right of the priest's choir. At the moment (26-5-2019) there are restorations going on at the St. Josephkerk, that’s because there is damage to the concrete structure of the church and the clocktower. That must be fixed. In addition, there will be a coating on all concrete façade parts to reduce the chance of new concrete damage. The roofing must also be renewed, just like a number of windows.

The dials of the clock tower will also be restored.

The chapel is located in a small village called Colmont. That is nearby Ubachsberg. The name is originally from the Latin words calvum montem, that means the bare mountain. Colmont is located on the Ubachsberg Plateau and immediately south of the hamlet is the Dry Valley of Colmont.

In 2014, Colmont existed of 30 houses and farms with around 80 inhabitants. A number of these houses were built from Kunrader stones. The stones were extracted in the area. At a T-junction there is a prayer chapel, built in Kunrader stone. The chapel was built in 1946, out of gratitude that the hamlet was saved during the second world war. The chapel is made for the holy Cornelius. The feast of Saint Cornelius is celebrated on September 16, the day that Colmont was liberated. In gratitude, a chapel was officially opened in 1949. This is what has happened.

A few days before the enemies arrived, the Germans were still preparing. On September 8, some hungry soldiers arrived in Colmont, who should have withdrawn from an earlier fight. They went looking for food in the city. On Sunday, September 10, during the High Mass in Ubachsberg, the Germans tried to get male church visitors together at the main entrance of the church to participate in tests. Many were able to escape through the sacristy and the cemetery. Around 12 September, the day the first Allied troops entered the Netherlands through Mesch and Noorbeek, a special unit from this position crept in between Elkenrade and the Eyserheide to see Colmont in advance. The soldiers of this group realized that the position by its position before the enemy could be of great value for the establishment of a so-called Hedgehog. The group also looked at the landscape. So they knew where they were. They met someone, who was probably hiding, trying to tell them in very bad English that the road behind him had not seen a dangerous vehicle in the last few hours. during a long break, extended reports were issued to Combat Command. The latter said that an entire army that came on foot, the 29th foot soldiers consisting of conscripts from the state of Ohio, would be sent to the area. At the same time, a tank battalion was sent after them. The Command ordered them to continue the same road, until they had reached a German retreat route. They were not allowed to cross a similar road. On September 16, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the first American troops appeared in Colmont with tanks from the direction of the Eyserheide and Elkenrade, while the footmen came down the Bronkweg. When the tanks arrived in the valley, they took the direction of the Colmonder forest and continued as far as the Vrakelsberg. Most people were in the shelter because there had been a permanent air alarm for days. Around 12 o'clock the Americans arrived at the Kruishoeve, where four German soldiers were living in advance, who tried to convince them to surrender. The youngest resisted, but the rest tried to flee. They perished when they stepped on a land mine. This land mine was one of many put down by the Germans to make it more difficult for the Americans. They were warned by residents of Colmont about the mines so that they could defuse them. A few German soldiers died on the Vrakelen. An American tank soldier died at the Kruishoeve. The liberators marched up to the last houses of Colmont; the residents put out the flags. The Americans, however, had them retracted, because otherwise the enemy could see how far they had advanced.

The chapel is mainly used for ceremonies. It is a small, open chapel by Kunrader stone. The chapel has a rectangular base and is built with Kunrader stone. The entrance is only closed by a low iron gate and can be reached via three curved steps. Two wings on the corners invite you to enter. There is a small round window in the front and side walls. Next to the chapel is a small park on either side, surrounded by a low wall of kunrader stone. The chapel has a gable roof with black roof tiles. On the tip is a simple iron cross. The chapel is completely painted white inside. There is a dark hardstone skirting. A Cornelius statue stands on an altar of brick and Kunrader stone. I go there sometimes to light a candle. I would recommend you to visit the place if you want to go to a quit place. Or maybe to light a candle for someone you know. It is a wonderful place to be. So, actually the chapel is built to celebrate that the second war ended in Colmont, and surrounding villages. The chapel is still used today.

I am going to tell you about a very beautiful, but sad monument: the American War Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten. It is the only American military cemetery in the Netherlands. I chose this monument because it has a special meaning for me. My parents have taken care of two graves on this cemetery for as long as I can remember.

During World War 2, on D-Day (June 6, 1944) 160,000 Allied troops landed on the French coastline of Normandy. The Allies rushed across France towards Germany. But before they could cross the Rhine River, they had to face the German army in a large and deadly battle in which 500,000 American soldiers fought against even more German soldiers. This battle and the upcoming march towards Berlin were the reasons that an American military cemetery was needed. So in October 1944, the American army was looking for a place to bury the American soldiers that were going to die in the battles in Western Europe. The Americans saw a beautiful piece of land in Margraten and decided that this was the best place to bury their dead, but they also realised that even the best place would not be good enough for their perished soldiers.

The first soldier was buried in Margraten in November 1944, the last one in March 1946. By that time almost 18,000 American soldiers were buried in Margraten. After the war many American families decided to bring the bodies of their loved ones back to America and now there are 8,301 graves left. Most graves have a white marble cross, the Jewish graves have a marble star of David. There is also a large wall on both sides of the entrance of the cemetery. In these walls the names of 1,722 missing soldiers are engraved.

The cemetery is a very impressive place. It always moves me to see the thousands of white marble crosses and stars that are lined up in perfectly curved rows. And I realise that we are free and able to live our lives because of the young and brave men and women that are buried under those beautiful green lawns. The cemetery pays respect to all those soldiers that risked their lives for our country and for the freedom of our grandparents and great-grandparents.

Margraten cemetery is a special cemetery, because all graves were ‘adopted’ by locals right after the war. Some 15 years ago there were not enough adopters left. So my parents decided to adopt two graves in the cemetery.

The graves of John Burns and Leon Gold (Leon has a Jewish grave) were assigned to them and from that moment on we take care of the graves. We pay our respects by putting flowers on the graves and keeping their memories alive. We also place a little stone on Leon’s grave after each visit. It’s a Jewish tradition, to let the deceased person know that he is not forgotten. In 2016 we saw a photo of Leon for the first time and that was a very special moment. Only a month ago we saw John’s portrait for the first time.

Last year I visited the graves together with the students of the Sintermeerten TTO classes and the students of Hardenhuish (a school in England). I told them about Leon Gold, who was 19 years old when he was killed in action, only a year after he married his lovely wife Estelle in New York. I also told them about the pilot John Burns, who was 21 years old when his plane crashed mid-air with another plane. He didn’t survive that collision.

Taking care of their graves taught me that we must be forever grateful for the sacrifice of these two brave men.

The name of the monument that I have chosen is Schacht Nulland, back in the days it was only used as a ventilation shaft.

A few years after that it was used as a coal mine. The place of the shaft is in Kerkrade, Domaniale Mijnstraat number 30. The literal translation from Mijnstraat is Minestreet, so as you can see the name of the street is also named after the shaft. It is an industrial monument and also the oldest coal mine from the Netherlands. They started to build Schacht Nulland in 1907, also the railways from the shaft were placed in 1907. The railways have now been removed because it no longer had any purpose. The railways were placed by Aken-Maastricht railway company. The shaft is 349 meters deep, without the round tower in the middle added to it. In one year time they already had 60 meters, so that was 1908, in 1909 it was already 150 meters deep. In 1921 the shaft was ready to use; at that time it was 260 meters deep. On the top of the shaft is a 25 meters high chimney, as I wrote before the shaft is 349 meters deep. In 1966 the shaft was deepened until 349 meters, because the miners (Koempels) needed more space to work. So, in 1921 the shaft was ready to use and in 1966 it was totally finished. There is a round tower in the middle of the building, inside the tower was an elevator. With the elevator they could transport products/materials into the mine.

On Wednesday (22-5-2019) my mother and I went to Schacht Nulland, it was very interesting to see all those materials that they still have there. We have been there for an hour and I asked a lot of questions. The designer/architect from Schacht Nulland is Wilhelm Husmann, his entire name is Theodor Hubert Franz Wilhelm Husmann. He is a German man, born on 4 December 1863 in Bardenberg (Germany), when he was older, he moved to Vaals (Netherlands) and he died on 20-10-1943 in Vaals, so he was 79 years old when he died. Decades ago a man called Rob Thalen lived together with his family in Schacht Nulland, Rob Thalen is a Dutch artist and he mostly makes art from beautiful landscapes and figurines. Rob Thalen is 65 years old, when he was 55 years old he moved to Belgium, Rue de Neuville. Since 10 years Schacht Nulland is an atelier, museum, wedding location for a maximum of 25 people and on Wednesday you can get a guided tour, like we did. In the top of the shaft is where Rob Thalen lived with his family, so there he got a normal house with a kitchen, living room, bedrooms and bathrooms. On the first floor he had his atelier and there he spent most of his time, nowadays on the first floor from the shaft is the museum where you can still see pictures from Rob Thalen. In the museum you can also see old materials that the miners (Koempels) used in the coal mine, the miners that worked in the mine from Schacht Nulland were called Koempels. When I got the guided tour the man who guided us said that the most interesting things were in the mine, but we couldn’t go inside the mine because it is flooded with water and when it wasn’t flooded we still couldn’t go in there because it can still collapse. Schacht Nulland was built with concrete, solder and normal bricks, when the shape of the building was finished, it was painted in the color Caparol ThermoSan. When I look at the entire shaft I see a big building, a round tower from 25 meters, in front of the building stands a red train wagon, there is a flag of Limburg on the top of the shaft and on the right side there is the logo from Schacht Nulland. The complete area of the building isn’t known, but the size of the shaft is medium. If people are going to marry by Schacht Nulland a white flag is replaced for the flag of Limburg. In the evening the outside view from the shaft is illuminated, the colour of the light could be orange/red, yellow and sometimes green. These colours don’t have an extra meaning.

I think Schacht Nulland is a beautiful shaft and it’s nice that people give guided tours inside the shaft to know more about it. I like Schacht Nulland because now it’s a museum where you can see a lot of interesting things from many years ago. When Schacht Nulland was refurbished, Willem Alexander and his wife visited it. That made Schacht Nulland more known and therefore people are going there. I have chosen Schacht Nulland because I also live in Kerkrade and when I pass the building I always think: that’s a beautiful building and I always wanted to go in there. Thanks for reading my essay about Schacht Nulland and I hope you liked it.

Construction year: ca. 1897 Architect: A. Mehler

My essay is about the shaft building in Heerlen. I chose this monument because I've always seen it when I was going home from school on my bike, but I never knew what it was. I wrote about this monument since it is not very far from my home and it’s a good way to find out what it is.

The ‘'Mijnmuseum’' in Heerlen used to be a shaft building that belonged to the “Oranje-Nassau”. In the shaft, the miners would be brought down into the mines to mine for coal. The shaft building was used for 75 years, between 1899 and 1974. The shaft block was built in a special way and therefore it’s a ‘'Malakow type’' building. The brick building has some special features like application of corner turrets in a neo-Romanesque style. This type of shaft block was made around the Saarland in the 1900’s. The material and construction of this building is very important since all the other shaft blocks were destroyed. Inside of the shaft there is a power-driven collection machine, made by A. Mehler in Aachen, that used to bring the miners back up. Most of the other distinctive things around the building have disappeared, but the importance of the building is still there.

The shaft building was turned into a museum later, and now people can go in and experience and learn a lot about mines from many years ago. You can get a tour through the museum and a lot of schools go there to get one of the guided tours for the kids. The entry fee is very cheap, it’s 1 euro per child so I would recommend going there. It’s also possible for people who used to work in the mines to come to your school and give a presentation about the shaft building. They also organize a lot of days where there are special activities or presentations happening in the museum. In the museum itself you will be able to see old clothes people used to wear I the mines, and a lot of objects they used, such as the lamps they carried or their helmets.

I think the building looks very special, but I've only seen it from the outside. On the outside you can see that it’s a square-shaped building with a lot of interesting features. When you look at the building you can see that it’s a historical building by the shape and the little higher parts on the corners. The shaft building has a tall structure on top of it, that’s part of the collection machine and it’s the most eye-catching feature, in my opinion. The shaft block is also made of stone bricks which also gives the building a more historical and interesting look. When you look at the windows, you can see that they have a bow-like shape, I think this looks really cool and unique, because you don’t see this kind of architecture a lot anymore, so this also adds to the more ‘’old’’ look of the shaft. One of the things that sticks out the most on the shaft block are the letters “ON’’ on top of the building. The letters stand for ‘’Oranje Nassau’’.

In conclusion, I think the building is unique and meaningful, and I think it’s cool that we have this kind of monument in Heerlen. The shaft looks different from the rest of the buildings around it, so it sticks out quite a lot.

The shaft building holds a lot of important memories and interesting facts to learn from. So, the fact that they made it a museum now is very cool, because people get to see what it was like in a mine so many years ago.

This essay is about the “Glaspaleis” also known in Heerlen as Schunck. The Glaspaleis is a building which originates from 1935 on and was declared as a national monument in 1995. In 1999 the Glaspaleis was also added to the list of 1000 most important buildings of the 20th century. The building is situated on Bongerd 18, Heerlen. I chose the Glaspaleis because I expected to be able to tell a lot about it and because it is a very building in Heerlen.

When Peter Schunck bought the property he immediately agreed on completely changing the place to create a modern department store. All the existing buildings were demolished. Peter even managed to make a deal with the local municipality to get more space for his dream. In 1933 Peter Schunck and architect Frits Peutz designed a building based on functionalism that was never seen before in Heerlen.

They constructed the building from concrete and glass to give it an open feeling. The structure had six floors; the first four were part of the department store and the other two served as the living quarters of the Schunck family. The opening of the store was the 31st of May 1935.

The period in which the "Glaspaleis" was built, was the time when Heerlen was a very rich place in the Netherlands.

Because of the success of the coal mines, people in Heerlen and surroundings had money to spend. Schunck became a very fancy and popular shop. In the 1960’s the local municipality decided to alter the old heart of Heerlen into a modern shopping centre. Schunck was asked to move to another building in 1964 and the “Glaspaleis” lost its grandeur. Short after, other sources of energy like oil and gas became popular and the coal mines were closed in the 1970’s. The economy of Heerlen went down very fast. And as a consequence, Schunck became too expensive for many people and in 1975 Schunck went bankrupt.

The “Glaspaleis” was changed into an office building and authentic elements, like the open glass effect, disappeared. In the beginning of the 1990’s a group of citizens made efforts to keep and restore the building and managed to get it listed as a monument. In 1997 the local municipality bought the “Glaspaleis” and architects Jo Coenen and Wiel Arets were asked to transform the building into a multifunctional place (museum, arthouse, library, music school and centre for architecture) respecting the original design of Peutz. It was re-opened in December 2003.

Right now in 2019, the same functions are still present, but we can also find a dance school, and a Bagels & Beans lounge inside of the building where you can eat and drink, inside or outside on the terrace. I do not think it is the most happy looking building. It is very grey and it doesn’t have much colour to it. When you have a look at the building from the outside, it looks industrial but modern at the same time. It has a very open look and it looks like a large construction. I like that it is a different sort of building, one that you don’t see very often. I think it is used in a sufficient way and it really adds something to the city centre. It is used by a lot of people and children who have dancing classes or music lessons. The library is huge and you can find all sorts of books.

The Schouwburg in Heerlen is a big theatre where artists come to perform. The type of things that are performed on stage varies from music performance to acting to comedians and talent shows. I chose to write about the Schouwburg because I used to go there with school a lot when I was little.

Also, because it’s close by.

The Schouwburg was designed in 1961 by the same person that built the Glaspaleis also known as Schunck, another monument in Heerlen. His name is Frits Peutz. He built the Schouwburg with a view of the rest of Heerlen and more importantly a view of Schunck so that people could see the other building Peutz designed. As time went on more and more buildings were built around the theatre so the view of the Glaspaleis slowly disappeared. The theatre was built in the time when there were a lot of miners. Most of them were down in the mines all day so they had to be kept entertained during the weekend to prevent them from protesting. Because of this the government decided to build a theatre.

That theatre is the Schouwburg. It was built with a lot of windows because the miners had to get a lot of sunlight. They needed that because they were underground in the mines without sunlight mostly.

In the beginning the Schouwburg only had one performance room. Throughout the years as they got a bigger budget, they built two more. The biggest one is the RABOzaal. It has 1103 seating places. Second is the LIMBURGzaal. It has 362 seating places and 1350 standing places. And lastly is the ING-zaal. It is the smallest room and has only 142 seating places. That room is mostly used for small acts and workshops for children. Nowadays the Schouwburg is very popular and artists from all over the world come to perform there. They either do it there or in the theatre in Kerkrade. No matter when you go there, there is always something to do.

I personally think that the Schouwburg is a fun place to go to for everyone. The reason for this is that there are performances in almost every category. It doesn't matter if you are young or old, into music or acting or even if you like performing yourself. I've been to the theatre many times. Very recently I went there with my grandparents to a blues music night. There were a lot of different musicians and all of the rooms were used.

So many artists showed up that some had to perform at the entrance. They also set up some stalls where you could buy their music and instruments. I spent most of the night in the LIMBURGzaal because there they played more modern music. I had a great experience and hope to go again next year.

In conclusion the Schouwburg is one of my favourite local monuments and I hope to see it expanding and see it get even more popular.

Monuments are the grappling-irons that bind one generation to another.

Joseph Joubert

When it comes to the royal theater this is undeniably true. Since the moment the theater opened its door on January 29th, 1938 until it closed for good on August 1st, 2014 it has been a place for young and old to enjoy movies and events. Passing on the magic of cinema for 75 years to several generations.

All of this started when in 1903 Laurentius van Bergen decided that he wanted to start a traveling cinema to go along with his fun fair which had been passed on from father to son for generations until his three sons.

Twenty years after he started his traveling cinema he decided to follow tradition and pass it on to his three sons Alexander, Max, and Mathieu who saw a brighter future in the cinema then the fun fair and started their first cinema in 1932 in Roermond. It was a huge success so they decided to expand their business. As a result, they started building their next cinema in Heerlen due to the its rapid growth, thanks to its mines.

Max chose the architect and naturally chose Heerlen’s very own Frits Peutz. Hence the reason for most of the building consisting out of glass and concrete. The construction of the building went on for about 100 days and then the doors opened. Opening night was on the 29th of January 1938 and the movie was Mutterlied, it must have been a spectacular first impression because the Royal quickly became a success. Surprisingly enough the theater was still doing relatively well during ww2 apart from the constant fines they got for not presenting propaganda films and playing banned songs. The fact that they didn’t support any propaganda isn’t very surprising considering the theater’s link to the Dutch resistance who throughout ww2 would use the theater's basement as storage for weapons and the dressing rooms, where they would keep allied air force pilots hidden. They kept this up until June 11th, 1942 when the Nazis took over and held a meeting in the suddenly swastika decorated theater.

However, this changes on September 17th, 1944 when Heerlen was liberated. This is when the royal theater starts getting used by the Americans who at the time used Heerlen as a place where the American soldiers could go to for a few days to rest and enjoy themselves. The theater was used during the night for the interrogation of war prisoners and during the day it was where some of the most famous celebrities of the time would perform. When the war ended the theater returned to its everyday life, however in the next few years the building itself went through various changes. Between 1958 and 1986 the building underwent many changes and gained three new halls one of which was named maxim after one of the original owners. Then in 2010, the city hall decided to renovate the building by fixing the balconies and decrease the number of chairs to be able to have more leg space.

In 2011, the owner of the royal at the time Laurens van Bergen bought the H5 theaters, this allowed them to have eight movie halls which gave them the ability to play more movies at the same time but even with all this they didn’t manage to stay open. A lot of this had to do with competition with other big movie theaters arriving. They couldn’t keep up, which is a shame because from what I heard a lot of people were quite upset to hear that it was closing down. For many people, it was a very nostalgic building that held a lot of good memories. For example, getting off the train and the first thing you saw was the beautifully lit theater, going there with your parents as a child to watch a movie in a cinema for the first time and just having that perfect movie experience. When I asked my dad about it, he said it was probably one of the nicest cinemas he had gone to because of this indescribable feeling he got from going inside. I knew exactly what he meant by this because when you go to see a movie or a show in a theater there is this almost magical feeling of how you can accomplish everything and how dreams can come true. Maybe it’s because in a film no matter what happens you know everything is going to be alright and you know that even when everything is at its worst there is always going to be happy end, this is just what you have to face to get there.

That’s what the royal theater passed on for years and no matter the difference between every generation they can all appreciate the feeling of empowerment that a true theater has to offer.

Hello, I am Kiki. I am fourteen years old and I am from the beautiful town called Voerendaal. For this essay, we got the assignment to write an article about a monument in or near our hometown. We all got to choose a monument that we really like to write about. Mr. van Roekel prepared us for months, just to make sure that we would all write amazing essays.

I chose to write about the train station in Voerendaal. The train station is located in the Jeustraat. I chose this topic for multiple reasons. First of all, it is very close to my house so it’s very easy for me to go there. The train station is very old, so there must be a lot to tell about. Ever since I was still a small child, I remember going to the station and always wondering why the building was never open.

I saw this assignment as an opportunity to find out more about this very old train station.

The building was built in 1913 and the grand opening was on March 1st 1915. It took two years to build this monument. The architect is George van Heukelom. His full name is George Willem van Heukelom. George van Heukelom also designed the train station in Klimmen-Ransdaal. Therefore, the train station in Voerendaal and the train station in Klimmen-Ransdaal look quite identical. George designed and built multiple train stations throughout the Netherlands. He was well known for designing train stations and other buildings. One of his most famous buildings is De Inktpot in Utrecht. George was mostly known for designing train stations, he also focused on building and restoring churches and monumental projects. In fact, in 1922 he was appointed to be president of the commission of the restoration of the Dom tower in Utrecht.

Back in the days, you had to buy your train tickets at the desk inside the building in order to take the train to get to your destination. Inside, you could also see how late your train was leaving and arriving at your destination.

Nowadays, the building is used for administration companies and a practice for personal guidance. These days, you don’t have to go inside to get your train tickets. Thanks to technology, we can now buy our train tickets within five minutes of our train leaving. There is a machine right next to the rails. All you have to do is check in and check out and you’re good to go. Personally, I prefer this way more than what people used to do back in the days. It is way easier and saves a lot of time.

Sadly, the building caught fire twice in early march of 2012. One side of the building was damaged very badly.

Luckily, they were able to restore the building. It almost looks like it used to be before the fire. When the fire happened, it looked like it was done on purpose. Especially thanks to the fact that it happened twice. Around that time, there were also multiple crimes involving vehicles and vandalism in Voerendaal. This is what led people to think that the fire was staged.

What I really like about the train station is how it looks. I think it looks like a vintage house. The fact that it is so similar to the train station in Klimmen-Ransdaal is also something that I think is really special. I think George van Heukelom did a very good job on these two stations. Although I think the building is beautiful, I do not really like its purpose these days. I think it could be so much more than just a place where a few companies have their office.

Maybe as time passes, the building could be used for more purposes. It would be a pity if it just stays the way it is.

I’ve chosen the Wilhelminaberg, better known as ‘the stairs next to SnowWorld’ as my monument. I really love this place and I'd love to inform you about the stairs.

The Wilhelminaberg is an artificial hill, located in Landgraaf, next to SnowWorld. It contains 508 steps and is 248-meter-long and is therefore the longest staircase in the Netherlands, which makes the staircase a popular place for runners. At the top is a viewing platform. The stone hill originated from the remains of the state mine-Wilhelmina, which was located there from 1906 to 1969. The mountain was supposed to be dug after the mine closure, but the calculation showed that the process was too long and expensive. This place has become part of the tourist place 'Park Gravenrode'.

Since 2016, there's a yearly marathon where hundreds of runners participate. They start at the top of the hill and they sprint through the hardened path to the bottom of the Wilhelminaberg. Once they are at the bottom of the hill, they have to run up the 248-meter-long staircase up and there's the finish!

A ski slope was built on the west side of the mountain in 1979. DSM (Dutch State Mines) & Hogeschool Zuyd (academy in Heerlen) have also made contributions for this ski slope. In 2000 a new complex was built; a 387-meter-long covered ski slope, named SnowWorld. This was only the start of SnowWorld, it now has 5 slopes, 4 restaurants, a hotel and a climbing park. SnowWorld in Landgraaf is the biggest indoor ski village of Europe! In Zoetermeer is also a ski slope, made in 1996 and is a property of SnowWorld. Since a few years the municipality of Landgraaf installed solar panels next to the stairs, this is great for the environment of course, but I preferred the view without the panels (for the light).

One of the reasons why I've chosen the Wilhelminaberg for this essay, is because it might look like a long staircase, with a lake next to it. However, during sunset, when you stand at the top of the hill, I think this is most beautiful place in Landgraaf. The view is incredibly magnificent when the sun sets. The colours of the sky change, from normally light blue, to darker hues of blue or different shades of red, yellow, pink and violet. You can see the cities Heerlen, Kerkrade and Landgraaf lighten up, you see car lights and in the distance, if you look closely, airplanes taking off and landing. It almost feels like there’s no end and the vibe is very peaceful. Personally, I’m a big fan of stargazing and this is the perfect place; during night time, stars start to appear in the navy coloured sky.

Another reason why I absolutely adore this place is because every Sunday, I used to go there with my 3 brothers, mostly around sunset, or midnight. This place has an emotional value for me because the relationship between me and my brothers got stronger because of going here; running up the stairs and staying on top, talking about anything and everything. Unfortunately, we are really busy nowadays, so it’s impossible to go every week.

Lastly, I wanted to say that the platform on top truly is the best point of view at New Year. You see fireworks everywhere and people cheering. For the Pinkpop fans, this platform is as well perfect for watching the performances of the artists, from a distance.

Hello, I'm Sem and my essay is about the Tom Dumoulin Bike Park.

I chose this topic because I go there a lot to cycle and see it as a piece of art and creativity.

The construction of the Tom Dumoulin Bike Park started on 13 February 2017 and was completed on 24 May 2017. Construction company Heijmans completed the construction within schedule and budget. With twenty-five employees and twenty-three machines, they worked hard to have the safe cycling environment ready on time. The course was laid with six cranes, two rollers and fifteen trucks. The highlight of the trail was the construction of a 10-meter high mountain; 3,250 loads of soil. The park is not yet completely finished.

For example the mountain bike part is now being worked on and there are still plans for a canteen of 3 floors high, so that it becomes just as high as the Fortuna stadium. But also a wind tunnel is planned to improve your cycling experience even more. So you can cycle against the wind. There are also four pits of grass where small ponds will be made. In the future a covered BMX park will be build, that is now in another part of Sittard.

The park is built on the SportZone in Limburg. SportZone Limburg is an area where everything is about sports and health. It is the best environment to develop your sports talent in football, athletics and cycling. Sittard was not so famous until now, because of the Limburg sports zone and especially the Tom Dumoulin Bike Park. People from all over the world come to the park just to cycle. The park is also best known for the Hammer where professional cyclers come here to cycle a three day race that was held for three years in a row. This will sadly be the last year.

I have been participating in this race from the start. But this will not be the end of the races at the park. They will continue forever.

The Tom Dumoulin Bike Park was built because the architect wanted more children to cycle or, in general, to exercise. They definitely succeeded because our cycling association has risen by considerable numbers after we have settled in the park. I cycle here at least twice a week all year round. So then I see the park about one hundred and four times a year. So I know the park quite well. I know every turn, every mountain, and even every mistake in the road. When I arrive at the park, I come from a height where I can see the entire park. Then I turn to the left and see the Fortuna stadium where I pass a water pump, here you can tap water when your water bottle is empty.

Then I turn back to the parking lot of the park, go through a large fence and past a control house where the first aid kit is located and someone supervises. I go over a wide path on which all future buildings will be placed. And then you turn into the park. You see a high mountain where four different routes go up, excluding the two mountain bike routes that are still being built. And there are five different types of roads you can cycle on: three asphalted ones, one of which goes around the entire park within the fences, and two in between. A stone path that also goes up and a strip in the middle. The park is oval-shaped with two straight sections on both sides. All roads are attached to each other with asphalt, but there is also grass where it goes down in the four corners to make four small ponds.

I like the overview of the park the most. It is very large, but it is also very clear. I also like the different ways you can train at the park. For example you can go climbing, but you can also go and train for a time trial. I don't really like the backside behind the mountain, because that's where most of the mistakes are made in the road. The park is also meant for the looks, you don't see that part of the park at the main standing point so they spent the least time making the road there. In general, the park is a very beautiful but also a very functional piece of land. That is used a lot but will be used much more in the future.

Location: Coriovallumstraat 9, Heerlen I chose the Thermenmuseum because there is a lot of information about the museum and I think it is quite cool that there still are some remains of a Roman bathhouse.

The museum was opened in 1977. Inside the museum there are not only the remains of a Roman bathhouse, but there are also a lot of archaeological objects found in the region Heerlen. You can buy tickets to go to a presentation or for a tour around the museum. For example right now you can buy tickets for a presentation called ‘een nieuw licht’. There also is a movie theater and sometimes there are some workshops. The director of the Thermenmuseum is Hans Thuis and the curator is Karen Jeneson. It is the biggest and best preserved antique building in the Netherlands. The museum complex consists of three parts, in the entrance building is the cash desk, a room for temporary exhibitions, the movie theater and a study room of the archive. Above the entrance building ‘floats’ a concrete archive tower. On the backside of the complex is an exhibition hall for the permanent collection. In-between these two buildings is the big exhibition hall with measurements of 50 x 55 meters which covers the excavation of the bathhouse. From a steel walkway you have an unobstructed view of the bathhouse.

The Thermenmuseum owns a collection of about 30.000 art- and everyday use objects from the Roman period.

There are some statues and gravestones. The everyday use objects are made of glass, metal and pottery. These are for example Roman glasses or burial gifts they were given to the dead as a gift to take into their graves.

In 1940 the foundation of the thermal complex was discovered. A farmer who was plowing his land on June 18th when he got stuck with his plow in a part of the column shaft. Later, three more column shafts were found. A couple days later amateur archeologist H.J. Beckers and some volunteers started with a large excavation. In 1941 the archeological remains impressive for the Netherlands were uncovered. The are was covered with a layer of silver sand with the intention of excavating it later. That happened in 1975 after which the excavation was included within the walls of a new museum complex. The Thermenmuseum is open to public since 1977. They immediately saw the importance of the find. In 1948 A.E. van Giffen mad the first and only scientific report of the Roman bathhouse. Van Griffen concluded that the bathhouse was built in two phases: the first phase from the first century AD and a few decades later an extension and renovation. Although the walls have almost completely disappeared, you can still make a good impression of the bathhouse on the basis of the foundation and floor level. It consisted of a walled area with inside a bathhouse of 50 by 50 meters. Via a covered colonnade they came into a dressing room, a kind of sauna, two plunge pools, a heated massage room and a hot water bath. A fragment of a mosaic floor is also well kept.

What I like about the Thermenmuseum is that you can get a better picture on how the people lived back in the days by the objects you can look at, and of course by the foundation of the bathhouse.

The mill on the vrouwenheide is located on the vrouwenheide south of the Dutch village Ubachsberg in Limburg. It is famous for being the highest located mill in the Netherlands at 216 meters above sea level. It has been an official monument since 1967 but the mill was built in 1858. My teacher English gave this subject to me because I didn’t find a good topic for myself and he thought that you could find lots of information about the mill.

As I mentioned the mill was built in 1858 on the ground from Leonard Joseph van de Weyer, in the building itself there’s a stone that has the year 1857 on it, but the mill was finished a year later so this isn’t correct.

The mill is still used but mainly for demonstrations to show people how the mill works. The area around the mill is a nice area for walking and cycling and although the area isn’t that touristic there are still lots of open days for the mill. In the Netherlands there is a monument day every year and on this day the mill is also open. Just like lots of other old buildings like some castles and forts in the area around Voerendaal. When the mill was built it was used for grinding wheat and grain. Until the second world war where it got destroyed and the part that still stood was used as storage space. After the second world war they were going to rebuilt the mill but while cleaning and making the mill empty a gasoline heater that was burning fell over and the whole mill burned down.

In 1955 the ruin got sold to Hubert Josef Leonard Gerards. He then gave the mill to his children. In 1959 the mill was finished and it opened as a café/restaurant, this only lasted until 1975 when the café closed. In 1976 Fred Piepers became the new owner of the mill and he decided that he wanted to rebuild the mill as precise as possible as the original mill, this design is the mill that still stands today.

As you come close to the mill you are driving up a hill and on the highest point of the hill you arrive at the mill, the mill is a huge black building that looks quite cool with the different colors on top of the mill.

The top of the mill is a huge metal black dome with the wicks on the side. The wicks are attached to a white, red and green wheel that can turn around. The mill stands on a big circular formed stone plateau which also is part of the building. From the back of the mill there are big white poles coming out of the ground. Next to the mill there is a white modern house that doesn’t really fit into the picture. The mill itself is also a house you can live in.

The circular plateau and the lower floors of the mill, the living room has the original stone floor and the walls are all white. If you want to take pictures it has to be from the street because the whole terrain is private for the people that live there. and apparently the mill underwent construction in 1989 where the mill got 120 cm higher and lots of parts got rebuilt. Since 2014 the mill is for sale but because of the location it is not easy to find a purpose for the mill: it is located on a hill 4 minutes outside of the Dutch place Ubachsberg which isn’t that big and because of the road that is a small and thin road where it is really annoying to drive and in summer there are lots of cyclists.

Overall I thought it was a nice topic to write about because there are some sites on which you can find lots of information about the mill but other than that it is not a subject that I personally am interesting in. The mill is a nice building and I liked all the information about the second world war because I’m interesting in it.

The Caumermolen is a monument in the southeast of Heerlen.

I choose this monument because it's close to my house and I have been there a couple of times but I didn't know much about it.

It is a beautiful place with much nature surrounding it. The Caumermolen has a beautiful courtyard with a pond and lots of flowers, bushes and trees. The building is also really nice and large.

The Caumermolen was built in 1371, which makes it the oldest watermill in Heerlen. The Caumer mill had an important function for Heerlen in the middle ages, because the Caumermolen wasn't just a watermill, it was a ban mill. A ban mill is a watermill where farmers nearby were forced to grind their grain. The watermill was rebuilt in 1787 and 1970. The building was used as watermill till the 1st half of the 20th century, after the second world war the water wheel was removed.

In 1722 there was a robbery in the mill, a few bags of grain were taken. After this incident a series of arrests took place in the region of Heerlen. There were a lot of people who took part in the criminal gang the Bokkenrijders. The Bokkenrijders was a large group of people who were thieves, blackmailers or people who committed violent robberies. The Bokkenrijders were active between 1740 and 1798 in parts of south-Limburg and parts of Belgium-Limburg. The robberies and blackmails were only focussed on the farmers. After the robbery on the Caumermolen 186 people died on suspicion of membership of the Bokkenrijders.

Nowadays the Caumermolen is a home, a really nice woman lives there and she takes good care of the place. The Caumermolen is also used as a B&B, which is bed and breakfast, so you can stay a night in the monument. Next to the Caumermolen is a forest so if you stay there it is nice to take a walk in the forest. Sometimes parties are also thrown there.

The Caumermolen is a really nice monument. I like it because it looks great and the surrounding fits the building. it's unfortunate that someone lives there, which makes it harder to visit the place. But you can always look at it from the outside. The name Caumer comes from ´kalde born´ which means ´koude bron´.

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My essay is about the Weltermolen. The Weltermolen is located in Welten next to the Weltervijver. I chose this topic because when I go for a walk with my dog, I always ask myself: what is this and what does it do? When I got this assignment I immediately thought this was a nice opportunity to get to know more about the Weltermolen.

The Weltermolen is a really old mill and has already been mentioned since 1341, which is quite a long time ago. The mill has a strong connection with Huis Strijthagen which is a house built at the edge of the Geleenbeek. The mill has been restored in 1982. During the French Reign in the Netherlands (the period 1795 until 1813 in which the French occupied most parts of the Netherlands) the Weltermolen belonged to Philippe Henri Veugen and Jean Godefroid Veugen.

There is still nobody who knows who the architect was. Around 1700 a tower was built attached to the Weltermolen with three floors. The Weltermolen itself had only one floor with a cellar. The Weltermolen was used as a banmill for the farmers who worked for Huis Strijthagen. That means that these farmers were obligated to work for Huis Strijthagen inside the mill against a bit of payment. But around 1800, there was a lack of water for the mill. In warm summers the mill could not even produce more than +60 liters of grane. Nowadays, after one meal day, the Weltermolen needs to wait for about one week before the Weltervijver is strong enough again to produce enough thrust. After the restauration in 1982, the mill has been open for the public. Since a dozen years the mill is maintained by just a single person: miller Winnie van Elteren.

When I look at the Weltermolen, the first thing that catches my eye is the mansard roof. Mansard is a roof shape with broken, bent surfaces. This roof has arisen during the French Baroque architecture.

The Baroque Architecture was a style and period created in the Baroque period. The Baroque period started in the beginning of the 17th century and went on until the first half of the 18th century. The buildings that were made were mostly in a Christian style. I like the way/style that the Weltermolen was built. The Baroque period also had its influence here and I like the style. I also like the tower attached to it because it gives kind of a tough and confident feeling. And the thing that I like the most is that the mill is almost 650 years old and it is still working, which is pretty impressive. The one thing that I do not like about the Weltermolen that the stones suddenly go from brick to white. I think it's a pity that the Weltermolen itself is hidden because it is very nice to see and it should not be so hidden.

In conclusion, I think the Weltermolen is the nicest thing Welten has. It was really nice to do this essay and I am glad I could find out so many thing about the Weltermolen.

The house that I have chosen for this project is Molenberglaan 25 in Heerlen. I have chosen this house because it has an interesting story behind it, but it is also a beautiful house.

The house is part of the villa park Molenberg and shows you the history of Heerlen. The Molenberg district was designed by Jan Stuyt in the period 1919-1920 and is partly intended as a working-class neighbourhood (mining colony) and partly as a residential area for other groups. In the years 1926-27 the neighbourhood was greatly expanded with houses. Molenberg was created with a strong sense of hierarchy. For example, there were separate homes for workers, supervisors, chief supervisors, engineers and directors.

The house was built in 1924 by the architect W.F. Mulckhuyse. He called the house an English country house. He designed it for a Protestant pastor: Pastor Hol. He and his family came to live here because of the mines. In that time the mines in Heerlen were growing fast and for the mines to run, mining engineers often came from other parts of the Netherlands. In most cases those people were Protestant. At that time there were no facilities for Protestant people here, because Heerlen was a Catholic village. Because religion and going to church was very important in those days, a Protestant church was built on Tempsplein in Heerlen.

Pastor Hol lived at Molenberglaan 25 for several years.

The house has a few features which show that the house was built for a clergyman. The fireplace for example.

The fireplace is made of wood and has a biblical spell on it (“protector and rector nestor esto pastor” or “sir be our protector and companion”). Tiles are bricked into the walls by the fireplace showing biblical events. It looks beautiful! It is really an iconic part of the house!

In 1930 the pastor expanded the house with a study, because the house was too small for him and his family. The location of the expansion is strange, because a window of the house faces a blind wall of the study. The current residents made a beautiful mural on the blind wall, which the window now looks onto. I think it's looks very nice: the house is old and the mural is something modern. It goes well together. At the time the study was built, there was also a central heating system installed which worked on coal. You can still see the hatch where the coal was dumped.

The current residents of the house bought the house in 1986 from an English teacher who taught English at Bernardinus College in Heerlen. His name was Mr. Zwitserlood and he had a big family: a wife and 8 children. So there were 8 bedrooms at that time! Nowadays there are 6 bedrooms.

From the outside the house looks smaller than it actually is. When you look at the house, you also see a lot of windows more than 500 and the windows have shutters (green, red, white). I like the charm of the shutters! The architect wanted the house to look like an English country house and I think the shutters give that kind of look to the house.

There are many more interesting facts about this house but the ones I told, tell the most about the history of this house. The house is now almost a 100 years old and still looks beautiful. This house also tells a story about Heerlen and his history. I liked to get to know more about this house because, it tells also more about my hometown.

I chose the stadsvilla because I pass the building almost daily and I didn’t know that it was a monument so I wanted get to know some more about the building. It was hard to find information about the villa. I think it is weird that a monument is a monument when you can’t find a lot of information. I hope I can give you as a reader some more information about this beautiful building.

The villa is located on Akerstraat 90 in Heerlen. The villa was built in 1904. I looked all over the internet but I can’t find the architect of the villa. The villa is a detached house and it is meant to live in. The villa has a traditional build style with elements of eclecticism which means that different architectural styles of the 19th century have been used. The surface of the plot which the house is built on is 1880m2 . The property value of the villa is 500.000 to 750.000 euros. The reason the villa became a monument is because the villa possesses architectural-historical value.

The high aesthetic qualities from the design, material use and the ornamentation. The villa ensemble value is important for the development of the Akerstraat and for the development of this part of Heerlen. The villa has public interest because of the special architectural exterior and a architecturalhistorical rareness. It is very special that the exterior and interior are both still undamaged.

When I look at the villa I can see a building with two floors, a basement and a roof floor. The villa is an L-shaped building. When I see the building I see a big house with a fence and trees and flowers around the building. There is a porch with stone stairs. The porch has a balustrade made with white pillars. it seems like a roman build style. At the top of the stairs, in front of the front door, there is an arch with a pillar. The arches come back when you look at the window. At every window you can see above and underneath the window an arch made out of brick relief. The first floor has a small balcony at the front of the building. The balcony is right above the entrance. The villa has windows made of glass and lead and the window frames are made of wood. On the right side of the building you can see an octagonal tower with a lantern on the top. On all sides of the building you can see many ornaments and relief.

The ornaments and relief are symmetrical. The villa has bricks that have a red/brown like colour and the roof of the villa is made from slate stone that has a grey/black colour which I think gives a contrast that looks really good. The fence around the villa is made with the same bricks the house is made of and the same colour fence as the colour of the roof. The fence of the balcony has also the same grey/black colour. The ground is covered with small off white coloured stones. The front of the house has two wooden doors. I don’t really like the colour of wood the doors have. I do really like the porch with the stone stairs and the arch. I like that there is a small tower on the right side of the building. The tower part is only visible when you look from the right side of the building so when you don’t pay attention to the building you probably will not even notice the tower with the lantern on top. The skylight of the house is made with glass and lead. The lead has a square pattern with yellow and grey colours. I don’t like the colours and the pattern of the lead but I do really like the idea of glass windows with lead directly above the glass.

When I saw the building before this essay I didn’t think of it as a monument but know that I have taken a closer look and had to search for information. I got to learn more about the time it was built in and how complex a building can be made. I know discovered many different detail that I didn’t see at first.

Hi I’m Luna and I am going to tell you about Villa Imstenrade on the Imstenraderweg. I chose Villa Imstenrade as my topic because I cycle/drive past Villa Imstenrade a lot to go to my grandma’s house. I stop for a couple minutes just to look at the villa because I think it is very beautiful.

My grandma knew the people who used to live on the riding school next to Villa Imstenrade so we went there a couple of times when we were at my grandma’s and then every time that we walked or cycled past it I would look at the villa and say to my grandma, that I wanted to buy the villa when I grew older and when I had enough money.

I also chose Villa Imstenrade because I find the architecture of the villa extraordinary and the colours really match.

The part of Villa Imstenrade that you see today was built in 1908. The architect who has built Villa Imstenrade was H. van Massenhove from Brussels. The function of the topic is not really special, it is just a villa with a riding school next to it, a part of the ground where the villa is standing on is a Centre for refugees.

In 1386 a vassal took the name of its fief and names it Emsenrode, then from 1537 until 1546 Jan the 3rd of Imstenrade gives his daughter half of the riding school. Then from 1668 until 1707 Gerit Prickarts and his legal successor sign a lease contract for Manage Imstenrade on castle Mheer. In 1792 both parts of leasehold Imstenrade were reunited. In 1893 the owner Frans Schepens marries Sophie Ross from Heerlen. Then in 1905 Frans Schepens buys the southern part of the Imsterhof and the Benzenraderhof with the Imstenraderbos. In 1908 the part of the villa that you see now was built. In 1928 the park-like garden is being laid out. Then in 1932 Sophie Ross dies in Brussels. In 1935 Frans Schepens dies in Brussel. After 1935 the brother Boormans bought the Zuiderhoeve and Villa Imstenrade. In 1940 the Medical Mission sisters move into the villa and garden. Then in July 1943 a bomb destroys the original roof and tower. The villa was uninhabitable for a while. In 1954 the roof was restored but it wasn’t the same as it used to be. In 1987 the Villa was bought by family Klinkers. Then 1994 the Medical Mission Sisters leave and until these days the couple Klinkers still live in Villa Imstenrade.

When I look at Villa Imstenrade I see a beautiful building. A small but on the other hand big building, with a very big garden. I see lots of statues standing in the garden and a little pond. I see that it is build out of white and orange stones and that it even has a little tower on it. I see that Villa Imstenrade has a riding school next to it and that it has a huge gate with a huge fence around it. Between every 2,5 meter of fence there are standing pillars made of normal brick stones and brick stones with the colour white. The villa has lots of trees around it and it has a little bench standing in front of it next to the street.

But what do I actually really like about Villa Imstenrade? Well, I really like Villa Imstenrade because when I see it I get all of these memories from when I was younger and that makes me happy and it just makes my day. I also like it because I think it an extraordinary building and I would love to live in it and it has a huge garden with a lot of grass and trees. Everything has a part about it that is not that nice, because nothing is perfect. Well, with Villa Imstenrade I think that the part that is not that nice about it is that it has a huge fence around it. And also that you can’t go into the gates, so if you want to take a picture with the villa you always have a huge fence on the background, and because of that fence it seems really secluded.

You can also not see very much in the summer or spring because then the trees are standing in the way.

So, in conclusion I love Villa Imstenrade and it is a very beautiful building, and if you ever come to Heerlen or if you are in the neighbourhood, I would really recommend coming to Villa Imstenrade: it is extraordinary and you don’t need a special connection with it, you can also just come to see what it looks like out of curiosity. I hope that I made you curious about Villa Imstenrade and that you know a bit more about it.

The monument I chose is Parc Imstenrade and back in the day also known as the Vroedvrouwenschool. It is located in Heerlen close to the Imstenrader forest and the St. Elizabeth chapel. The place itself is really quiet and peaceful as it is surrounded by a lot nature. That is one of the reasons why I chose this topic.

Furthermore, I chose this topic because it’s close to where I live. Therefore, I always went there when I was a kid to play. And both of my parents and my grandma have been born there. Because, a long time ago it was a delivery centre for new-born babies, but more about that later on. As I said both of my parents and my grandma were born there they have told me a lot of stories about it and that’s also what made me interested and eventually made me choose this topic.

Jan Stuyt designed the building complex in the 1920s and the main building still shows the history of this place.

Since it was opened by her Majesty Queen Wilhelmina in 1923. Many buildings by this prominent architect nowadays feature on the national monument list. Including Parc Imstenrade. Despite the adaptations for the daily living, the original appearance - both inside and outside - has been preserved. Such as the authentic tiled floors, the hard-stone stairs and the beautiful stained-glass windows. The National Service for Cultural Heritage has shown great appreciation for the responsible restoration of the old buildings on Parc Imstenrade.

As I earlier said the original function of this beautiful monument was to deliver babies. And after Majesty Queen Elizabeth opened the doors in 1923 in the next 70 years, 80,000 babies were born, which is definitely a lot in my opinion. Many of the current residents living in the building had their own children there or taught the midwives in training there. But that was the function a long time ago, nowadays it is a multifunctional building. But the main function is a retirement home which I think is really suitable for the place as it is really big and peaceful which is handy for the elderly. The place also has a restaurant named “la valeur” I have been there once, and it was really nice. Furthermore, exhibitions are held inside the building.

Facts: Parc Imstenrade has a “roze loper” policy this means that everyone is welcome regardless of your religion, origin, culture or sexual preference. This certificate supports sexual diversity inside the healthcare institutions.

Around 150 healthcare institutions hold this certificate. Health and vitality are important themes within Parc Imstenrade. According to the Parc Imstenrade philosophy, exercise is at the basis of vital health and healthy vitality. The building shares its name with the Emsenrade family who lived in villa Imstenrade near parc Imstenrade.

When I look at the building I see a lot of symmetry which I always think is really clean and basic but does has a lot of style. And we can’t go around it. The building does look a bit old, but it I think that makes it even prettier. The combination of stone and glass in the building is also something I really like. There are no specific things I do not like about the building, but I think it could use a little makeover at some places just to make it look even better. But it doesn’t really bother me it’s just that I think it should change with the time we live in now.

In conclusion, I think while making this essay I learned a lot about the building a lot of things I didn’t know. The building is a beautiful peaceful historic place which a lot of people know because they were born there themselves or know someone who was born there. That’s what I like about the building: it’s kind of connected to everyone which I think is really beautiful.

Murder?! History and way different architecture! In this article I am going to be writing about Crombacherhoeve. It is located at the Crombacherstraat 28 in Kerkrade, parallel to Parkstad’s very own buitenring. I’m sure you’ve driven past it at least once! I chose Crombacherhoeve because we’ve got our horses placed there. When I found it was a monument I couldn’t believe my ears. This time stricken building with peeling white paint, a monument?! To me a monument had to be restored or at least seem like it had been looked after. However when I got to know a bit more, I got fascinated by the monument. This assignment was the perfect opportunity to talk about Crombacherhoeve.

Crombacherhoeve was first built in 1107. It was part of the 7 farms built in the area by the monks of Abdij Kloosterrade (later known as Abdij Rolduc). These were all recorded as a part of the Annales Rodenses book. In its early stages Crombacherhoeve was a half-timbered building with a total of 7 morgens (an old unit of measurement which is equal to about 1 hectare). In 1731 Crombacherhoeve got rebuilt. It fell to ruins due to the abandonment its former owners, the Schifflers family, caused by the Cholera-epidemic. After the rebuild, Crombacherhoeve was bought by a monk named Simon Pieter Ernst on the 25 of March in 1794. Simon bought the place for 129.000 Belgian francs.

Crombacherhoeve has always been used as a farm, as such it is today. The owner keeps cattle and uses the farm as a pension for horses. Sometimes you can see the chickens running around, it’s pretty funny. However, Crombacherhoeve hasn’t always been like this. In 1856 the farm was split into two separate farms. Both farms are called Crombacherhoeve, though they carry different house numbers, i.e. numbers 28 and 30.

Rumor has it the wife of the former owner of Crombacherhoeve was murdered by her own maid. Jozefina Maria Hubertina Schreurs was her name. When she was murdered in 1926 she left her husband, Hendrik Borghans with 3 kids. The eldest one at the age of 3 and her youngest at the age of 4 months old. Another rumour would be that there are books that allegedly carry stories about the history of Crombacherhoeve. These books are the Bokkerijder books. The books are about a gang that fights crime around farms. The stories must have been written by someone roaming around the city and visiting various farms throughout Parkstad.

Did you know: Crombacherbeek literally translates to ‘’crooked winding stream?’’ It meanders right past the border from Germany to the Netherlands. Crombacherhoeve is named after this stream. Crombacherhoeve has a 5 angled court and inside the barn there are names and dates carved out of the wood. Some of the names include: Johannes Marrhi and Fransen. I can also see a J Bilgot and also a Wendy. Looking at the dates carved into the wood you can even see dates like Anno 1934 and 1898. But before you walk in, don’t forget to look up to the stone plaque saying 1709 above the barn gate. When you look at the building you’ll notice its architecture is different from ours. Sloping windows, walls in the basement that are 2 meters thick instead of your usual 50 centimetres.

And the basement having a round ceiling that is isolated using soil, air where-onto the floor is lain. This is more of German style, seeing as Crombacherhoeve is right on the German border I think the style is fitting. Then going out into the fields, look for border stones and spot wild animals. Some of the animals you may spot are: deer, foxes, martens and buzzards. Every year geese, house martins, starlings, sparrows and tomtits come to Crombacherhoeve to raise their offspring. We look forward to their return every year!

In conclusion, Crombacherhoeve is definitely a place to visit. It has tremendous history that is still visible today. And less than a 100 years ago there was even a murder! Look for little Easter eggs like the stone plaque and the names scratched out in the barn. Find the border stones that are dispersed along the border to Germany or just cuddle some horses. If you are lucky you see the wild geese that come back every year to bring up their goslings or you spot a deer in the fields behind the farm.

I’m going to tell you a bit more about Hoeve Crombach and why I am connected to it.

Hoeve Crombach is a farm and it is located on the crombacherstraat 28 in Kerkrade. It was built in 1117. It was built as the third monastery from the Kloosterrade abbey.

But parts of it were built later on. The main part of Hoeve Crombach was rebuilt in 1743. The architect of Hoeve Crombach isn’t known. It was used as a mansion and since 1856 the Hoeve is split into two farms. The hoeve forms a whole with Nr. 30. Back in time there was a rich family who donated things to another family. Hoeve Crombach and a lot of farmland around it was also donated to that family.

Later on, the hoeve was a place where not one but more farmers worked.

I am connected to this monument because ‘’my’’ horse lives there. One of the two farms Hoeve Crombach was split into, is now also used as stables. Because of the huge meadow that also belongs to the owner of the farm, it’s perfect for horses. I come there every day to take care of my horse and other people do that as well for their horse, so it is always nice there. There are lots of beautiful places to walk (in my case ride with the horse) in the neighbourhood. My horse is called Fury. He is 14 years old and turns 15 in July. I ride a lot with him outside, but we also ride dressage. The herd that is standing there now is with about 13-15 horses. Fury is one of them. The farmer (the owner of the farm) also has meadows a bit further away from Hoeve Crombach. There are also herds of horses over there. What I also like about it is that it is a really old building. Because mostly when you think of stables, it is new and only stables and no meadows or only small ones and large riding areas. But at Hoeve Crombach it is just a small riding area with no correct sizes but that doesn’t matter to me). And a huge meadow and only a few stables. What you see when you stand in front of the farm is a white wall. It doesn’t really look like something really special but when you walk through the door you see the courtyard. You have a toilet, bushes and the tack room by the courtyard. We also brush and wash the horses there. The farmer has parked his tractor there and the trailer for the horses is also standing at the courtyard. When you walk further, you see the back part of the building. The roof is a bit collapsed but not too far. We have a separate building under the half collapsed roof and there are two stables in that building. One of them is for Fury. If you walk through the back part you arrive at a stone paddock. The horses live here in the winter when the meadow is too wet. Attached to the paddock is the small riding arena. There is only an outside arena so when it is really wet we can’t use it or only outside in the fields or woods. Next to the riding arena is the huge meadow. In the meadow is a small pond with a wooden bridge over it and in the middle of the meadow is a huge valley and hill.

You have two places where you enter the courtyard. One way I described above. Through a door. But the other way is for the tractors, cars (sometimes they come there to pick up a horse) trailers, bikes and of course for the horses when we go outside. The driveway. It is a small road that goes downwards and on both sides you have a lot of bushes. On one of the two sides you can graze with your horse and there is also a trampoline. On the other side is our dung heap. When you walk down the entire driveway you come back to the courtyard.

I hope you liked my written tour that I gave you. And I hope that you have a bit of an idea of what Hoeve Crombach looks like.

I have chosen Hoeve Corisberg as my monument, later I’ll tell why I chose it. I would like to inform you about this special place.

Hoeve Corisberg is a place where people with an intellectual disability find a safe living environment where they can be themselves and where they have their own workplace. Hoeve Corisberg consists of a farm, a hoeve (hoeve is a Dutch word that doesn’t have a translation, but it is like a farm/farmhouse), a shop and it has four residential houses. There is also an extra residential building in Kerkrade. Hoeve Corisberg is located in Heerlen at the Corisbergweg 1. Hoeve Corisberg started in 2000. It was created because of a group of parents who were looking for a small living working community for their children. A place where their children can enjoy meaningful daytime activities and get a full place in society. The township of Heerlen decided that the farm could be a good, safe, happy place for the children. The parents were really happy with this. Hoeve Corisberg works together with the seasons.

On May 20, 2019 I went to Hoeve Corisberg myself, to ask how it is to work at the hoeve and how it works there.

Like I said before there is a farm, four residential houses and a shop. In each residential house there are 6 people living there. On the ground floor there is one bedroom, for people that are physically disabled to walk upstairs, so people that are in a wheelchair. On the first floor there are 5 bedrooms. There are 24 people living in Hoeve Corisberg. At the farm you have all kinds of different animals like: 10 chicken, 2 donkeys, 1 cow and 4 calves, many rabbits and sheep. The function of the hoeve is that all people with an intellectual disability get their own job. You can divide the jobs into the work group who do the maintenance, the farmers they care about the animals, the gardeners, woodworkers if they built something they sell it in the shop, the bakers, the catering and the sellers.

Every product in the store is made by the hoeve.

The function of the woman I interviewed is to guide the people with intellectual disability in their work. She started working there because she did a certain kind of course where you can work with people with physical disabilities.

First she explains the job to participants what they need to do. Then she shows how you need to do the job. Then she does it together with them. When all of this is going well, they may do their job individually. But there’ll always be a guide with them because there is always a possibility that something goes wrong. So, you can start working there if you did a certain course where you can work/guide people with a disability. You can also start working there as an volunteer. Or if you’re someone with an intellectual disability between the 18-100 years. At this moment there are 50 people working and 24 living in the residential houses. What I like about the hoeve that the people are treated normally, the people with an intellectual disability are all working and helping each other and doing the best as they can.

When I’m standing in the front of Hoeve Corisberg I see a happy, warm, safe place where people can be themselves.

During the year there are some special events like carnival, Christmas, Sinterklaas and some special flea markets. All the things I listed in this paragraph are the reasons why I chose Hoeve Corisberg as my monument/special place. I thought of this idea because it is next to my hockey field. So, every time I cycle along the hoeve it makes me feel happy. There is not really a thing what I don’t like about the hoeve. But I think If I would be working at the hoeve I would have difficulties if people would die, because you get very close to the people. But that happens sometimes in life.

Thank you for reading my article. I hope you enjoyed reading this article and that you will visit Hoeve Corisberg some time.

Hoeve de Geleenhof is an old farm located on the Valkenburgerweg 54 in Heerlen, and it was named a national monument in 1967. The farm used to serve as a watermill and farm, but is now a very successful restaurant close to the centre of Heerlen. There is also an architectural office inside the left wing of the building. The reason why I chose this monument is because I ate at the restaurant a few years ago and I was very surprised after reading how old the building was.

Some of the oldest walls are from 1688 and have been there ever since, these are made out of bluestone which were used very often back then. At first, when the building was bought by Anton van der Heyden in 1742 it belonged to property of Terworm. But when the Orange-Nassau mines took over the place in early 1917 it was first used as a proper farm. A number of important families successively owned the farm: Van Coelmont, Mascherel van Wijnandsrade, Van Hillensberg, Van den Driessche, Van Imstenraedt, and family Van Slijpe. For some period after this time the place was used as an important stopping place for the coach traffic between Aachen, Heerlen and Maastricht. The stop was at that time owned by the international company or German family Thurn und Taxi's. The current owners of the building and restaurant bought the place on the 3rd of December, 2015.

The state of the Geleenhof right now dates back from the 19th century, before the renovation of that time the building was slightly smaller and surrounded by the Geleenbeek. The canal used to be on two sides of the building in that time, now it’s on only one side. Even though a small sign above the entrance states 1935 the main building is from 1796/97. The oldest wing out of all four of the building is the north-west one which was built in the 16th or 17th century.

The building is two stories high and has a symmetrical front with a middle gate, if you walk through that gate you enter the terrace of the restaurant located on the inside of the building. The restaurant is rated on number 19 of best restaurants in Heerlen, based on location, quality of the food, and experiences.

It is opened from Thursday until Tuesday and the kitchen opens at 10 AM for a cup of coffee. The lunch is from 11.30 until 3.30 PM, and eventually from 5 o’clock the restaurant serves its dinner until the last guest leaves the restaurant which is mainly around eight or nine. I can’t remember exactly, but my guess is that I went there in 2017. I had breakfast with my mom, dad and grandma. I ate shrimp croquettes on toast, together with a fried egg and some bacon.

From my experience, the food was really good but quite expensive, I would definitely recommend going there.

This was my essay about Hoeve de Geleenhof, using most information I could find on internet.

My name is Tatum and I chose the Naamse Steen as monument to write about. The first reason I chose this monument is because my grandpa works there at the garden. And the second reason is because I like to write about the Naamse Steen, not just because it has a long and great history but also because I grew up nearby and I went there many times with friends and family.

The location of the Naamse Steen is at Wijnandsrade Laar 16, next to a railway. The monument is built in 1543 at the time there only was a small castle called Laar 15 and stables for cows. But in 1790 the castle was destroyed. We don’t know why the castle was destroyd, but we do know what shape it had, because the foundation (that was made of marl) is still left. In the 19th century the rest of the farm was built around a courtyard next to the cow stables that weren’t destroyed. The owners have all this information because they did some investigating, they were very curious about the years the monument was built in, so they did an investigation, they sawed a part out of a wooden beam and sent it to a Belgian laboratory, the investigation is called a Dendro chronological investigation. The lab kept the piece of wood as an typical example of wood that was used at the time.

The architect of the Naamse Steen is unknown, but we do know that he used craftsmanship to build it.

First he put a wooden skeleton together like a puzzle that fits in one another, than he put straw between the wooden skeleton and on top of that he put loam. On the outside he put more and stronger loam that was made of manure and mud, on the inside he put loam made of mud. You can imagine that the building technic must be really strong, I mean it is made a very long time ago and it is still here today.

Many families have been owners of the Naamse Steen, but it probably started with the family Gelore, that is also where the name Laar comes from: you say it the same but you write it differently. The farm belonged to the family Rolduc a long time and several mayors of Wijnandsrade lived there as well, now it belongs to the family Peters: . they live and work in the Naamse Steen and bought the monument in 2014. Before they moved in to the Naamse Steen the monument was empty for about 3 years. When they moved in, they first had to renovate a lot because some wooden beams were rotten and it was a mess. It took 2,5 years of renovating till it was ready for them to move in. They turned the cow stables into a restaurant and the living place for themselves and the hayloft is made into a B&B. I think the Naamse Steen and the landscape that lays around is beautiful and green. The only tip I have for the Naamse Steen is that they could place some cattle animals or more flowers in the garden, because it looks a bit empty. They do have a dog, a few cats, bees and sometimes sheep. But that was the only disadvantage I have, because the farm looks beautiful and the homemade food from their restaurant is delicious.

Kasteel (Castle) Haeren is one of the five castles in the small town called Voerendaal. Kasteel haeren is also one of the biggest castles in Voerendaal. This glorious piece of art is located on the south eastern side of Voerendaal, and is on a street called Kasteellaan Haeren which is Dutch for Castle Alley Haeren.

One of the things that really stood out regarding the castle is that it is also a National Monument. Kasteel Haeren was built in 1296, and has therefore a lot of interesting facts, for example: Kasteel Haeren is a castle that was not set up

by Herman van Haeren but by Ogier van Borgharen. This was until 1371 when a knight called Herman Hoen bought it and after years of living there he sold it to Wilhelm van Munkenbeke. But it is still a mystery why and how Herman van Haeren got the castle, however nowadays, the building is mostly used as an apartment. It is still not allowed to enter the castle without permission. If you really want to see it you can always use the paths through the forest and garden of Kasteel Haeren.

Kasteel Haeren is a unique castle, instead of being one protected block of stone the castle split up in four wings. Each of those wings are now apartments and offices. On the windows you can see amazing looking doors with a triangular pattern. There are beautiful arches that lead you into the courtyard. Of course there is a little parking lot for the people who live or work there. This parking lot is also located inside the courtyard. Above all arches you can see two pigs, a shield and a weapon. This was done by Herman Hoen to show how much effort he will put in to saving the Netherlands. On the south-east of Kasteel Haeren there was a well-hidden burial island in a forest of a piece of land, surrounded by a ring ditch. In 1806, shortly before his death, Willem Hendrik van Panhuys, who had bought the castle in 1770, had the burial cellar built.

The burial cellar of the Panhuys family was 7 meters wide and 8 meters long, with twenty burial niches for adults and four smaller niches for children. The roof of the basement consisted of a tunnel vault, covered on the outside with clay and turf and on top of a pedestal with a vase. The family grave fell into disrepair over time and was restored in 1991, but then fell into oblivion again, until the municipality of Voerendaal recently came up with the idea of opening up the island. There is another document from 1882, which states that the destination of the island and grave may not be changed, it may only be entered for the extraction of grass and chopping wood.

What I really like about this Castle is the design. All the paint jobs that have been done. For example half of the castle is white this makes more variety in the building. There is also the arch, I like how it is not oval shaped on top but it is perfectly round. There are also some things about the castle I don’t really like. For example the white paint job. This might sound weird because I also said I liked the white but just the way that it is painted is just bad. Most of the time the white would already stop before a corner and that just looks kind of strange. So if you ever visit Voerendaal I suggest going to Kasteel Haeren, and if you have questions about the castle ask the people living there: they will be happy to answer your questions.

I’m going to write about Kasteel Puth. Kasteel puth is the Dutch name for Puth castle. I have chosen this subject because my grandmother always tells me a lot of nice stories about the castle. It is nice to listen to her stories because she knows a lot about the castle.

My grandmother worked/lived there for a long time. She was the nanny to the children of the count and the countess. The count’s name was: Wilhelm Josef Oskar Friedrich Leopold graaf zu Stolberg-Stolberg. The name of the countess was: Irena Prinzessin Von Isenburg. They had three children, two girls and one boy. The boy was the oldest, his name was Hannibal.

Then there was Isabella and the youngest kid was Nina.

Puth Castle is located in South Limburg in a village called Voerendaal. It is on the corner of an old beautiful avenue.

Around the castle is a forest, a meadow with cows (they sometimes break out) and a golf course. Puth Castle is part of a neighborhood association called: 't Baneblökske.

The original house / castle was built in the 14th century. The rest of the house was built over a period of time in the 16th, 17th and 18th century. The current mansion, which consists of two floors, dates from the mid-16th century. The facades are made of marl stone. The man who built the original house/castle was: Jan/Johan Puth.

The count and countess my grandmother worked for left the house in 1967 (but owned the house/castle until 2007). From the early 1970’s until about 1990 a general, commandor of the Afcent (millitary NATO command) lived at the castle. From about 1990 until 2011 the castle was empty. Nowadays (since 2011) the function of the house is a house where people live. When the people who live there bought the house in 2011, they started renovating.

First the castle itself and then the farms and barns around it.

When I look at Puth castle I see a lot of things. At first you see a nice beautiful gate. When you pass the gate you enter the courtyard. When you are in the courtyard you can see little farms and big barns and also a bakehouse.

From the courtyard you see the front of the castle / house called: south facade. Around the castle there is a moat so you have to cross a bridge to go into the castle/house. Around the moat is a very large lawn where the children can play, there is a trampoline and there are swings. The only way to reach the lawn is through the courtyard. You can also see what materials the castle is made of. The castle/house has a symmetrical 18th-century brick façade with Namur stone pilasters, door and window frames at the front. The sides and back of the castle/house look completely different: here you can still clearly see traces of the late Gothic style of the 16th century with marl stone and layers of stone with different colours called ‘’bacon layers’’ in Dutch because it looks like bacon. Between the newer arched windows a beautiful arch stands out under the roof. Puth castle is one of the few castles without towers. That’s really special because it was normal to have towers on the roof with a clock in it. the castle has been in noble families until 1967.

What I like about the castle / house is the fact that it is such a beautiful building very close to where I live. All the stories I hear about it are really nice to listen to and the people who live there are also very nice. I really like it when our neighborhood party is held there, which is always very enjoyable. There is nothing about the castle/house that I don't like. The other information about the castle is very special and personal to me. I started by telling that my grandmother worked and lived at the castle but there is more to that story. My grandfather also worked at the castle. He was the house painter at the time my grandmother worked there as the nanny. At the castle they met for the first time, fell in love and the rest is history. That is why our family has a very special connection to the beautiful castle Puth.

Kasteel Terworm is a castle located in Heerlen. The castle is part of the Terworm estate and belongs to the 5 castles of Voerendaal. Kasteel Terworm was used for defense, but now there’s a hotel inside the castle and a restaurant. The castle is surrounded by water, French Rococo gardens and a nature park which makes it a beautiful destination. I chose to write about Kasteel Terworm because I've been there many times and I think it’s a beautiful castle.

Kasteel Terworm was built in 1400 and then had two families with property rights, family van der Worm and family Cortenbach. The castle was named after this family after it was previously known as Geitsbach. At that time, the castle was a square house with a round and rectangular tower constructed from Kunrader stone and marlstone built around a walled courtyard. The first known owner was the lord of Strijthagen in 1467, when the castle was still a defensible moated castle, although the castle had poor defensible features. For example, the towers were on the least endangered side and the courtyard could easily be bombarded from a nearby hill which is therefore not handy of course.

Kasteel Terworm underwent six renovations in 500 years. The current appearance of the castle comes from 1890.

One of the renovations happened when the castle was owned by the Van Hallen family in 1542. The castle was completely destroyed by fire, only the first 4 meters of the castle stayed in the original kunrader and marl stone.

The castle was rebuilt around 1550 in the same style but now with a gable roof. The reconstruction was done in brick and to hide the difference between the marl stone and brick, the building was painted white. In the following century, various renovations had been carried out by the Van Wylre family, including an extension on the south side of the courtyard. In the 17th century the castle was converted into a living quarter. Later in the 17th century a beautiful garden in French rococo style was laid in front of the castle. The castle was then expanded considerably.

At the end of the 19th century, the castle and the farmstead got its current appearance, thanks to Franz Baron who carried out reconstructions in neo-gothic style which is a style you see often in older castles and buildings. He did this with architect Fisenne. We know this because inside one of the walls of the castle was found a special bottle containing a hand-written parchment with information about the building at the time and the name of the architect.

During most of the 20th century, the castle and the associated estate were in the hand of the Oranje-Nassau mine (1917-1988). Below the estate of Terworm lies the corridor system of the former coal mine. In this period overseers, artists, the forester and the lifeguards mostly lived in the castle. At that time there was a large outdoor swimming pool near the castle open to everyone. After the mine closure, government officials and the ON proposed to set up a large-scale amusement park on the estate of Terworm, so they then would have to destroy the castle. As a result, the inhabitants of Heerlen made sure that the government cancelled these plans in a largescale and widely supported protest march. In the last period of the 20th century, the castle fell into disrepair until it was bought by Hotel Van der Valk. They renovated the castle (1997-1999) and made it into a hotel with a restaurant. You can now sleep in the old castle and enjoy delicious food.

I like that the castle is so old but still exists (and is still in the same style) and that it is located in such a beautiful environment. I think it was also a good idea to turn the castle in a hotel because now you can really go inside the castle and so the castle is used for something. The castle now doesn’t really look like the medieval castles we know, but more like a big house with towers and big windows with an amazing view. The castle now also has a beautiful courtyard. You can enter the castle through a beautiful bridge over the water. The sun shines most of the time on the castle and gives it a finishing touch. It's a beautiful monument you should visit!

Hello I am Shahd and I have chosen Kasteel Hoensbroek also known as the Gebrookhoes. I went there a few years ago and liked it very much. But I didn’t know a lot about it , so this was a good excuse to learn more. Also its very close to my house. So that is an advantage for me. And that’s why I chose Kasteel Hoensbroek.

Kasteel Hoensbroek is one of the biggest castles In the Netherlands. It consist of more than 67 rooms. It was built in 1360 by Herman Hoen. in 1250 a manor was built on the place of the present castle. The castle is located along important trading routes to Maastricht, Aachen and Cologne.

The first castles were made out of wood, but wood was not the best material to use. It could be set on fire easily and it could rot very fast. So from the year 1250 they started to build the castles out of stone. They constructed the castle five times before the castle looked like the castle you see nowadays. phase 1: was in the thirteenth century, phase 2: was in the fourteenth century, phase 3: was in the sixteenth century, phase 4: was in the seventeenth century, phase 5: was in the eighteenth century .

What do I see when I look at the building: First of all it is very big, I went there to take a picture. But couldn’t find a location where I could photograph the whole castle. Nowadays you can enter the castle and get a tour in the castle. And when you are done with the tour, you can look around and eat something in the café. Obviously the café wasn’t there in the past. When you arrive there, first you see a lake with ducks & geese. Then you walk over a drawbridge. After that, you enter a little store were you can buy tickets & souvenirs. And then you can enter the actual castle. First thing that stands out is that the castle has a lot of rooms. Everywhere were you look, you see doors. The castle had 2 prisons: one inside the castle & one in the round tower. And obviously because the castle was built after 1250 the whole castle is made out of stone. A lot of people lived there for example knights, lords, tombs and dukes. Of some of them they still have portraits and of some people we know they lived in Kasteel Hoensbroek, for example Adriaan: Adriaan was freeman of Hoensbroek, Frans Arnold: Frans was lord of Hoensbroek and Lotharius Frans: was born in Kasteel Hoensbroek in 1722 and he was one of the tombs of Kasteel Hoensbroek.

Facts about Kasteel Hoensbroek: There was a secret room in the castle, where a bishop was hiding. In the time of the French revolution, French soldiers came to Roermond, all the nobles had to escape. So also the bishop. So he escaped to Kasteel Hoensbroek. The soldiers did know that he was in the castle, so they started to search for him.

But they couldn’t find him because he was hiding between the ceiling of the spout and the floor of the wardrobe.

Hoensbroek is called Hoensbroek because of the familyname “Hoen’’, There were some castle stories that were told to the people in Limburg for example: The ‘’Auvermannetjes’’: the Auvermannetjes were gnomes, these gnomes lived under the ground during the day, but came up at night. They knocked on the windows and then the people knew they had to put kitchen accessories in front of the door. The gnomes would go and get them, and clean them for the people. After they were done they would put the accessories on the place they took it from.

I really loved going there, it is big and it is very beautiful. I went there on a sunny day and it’s a perfect activity when you have a day off. First I thought that castles were boring, but that is not the case. It is a lot of fun to visit it and you see that a lot of people go there. Just to do a nice activity. But you have to know that every time you go there you will do the same thing: you get a tour, look around and eat something in the café. So it is not an activity you can do every week or something.

I am going to write this essay about kasteel Amstenrade. Kasteel Amstenrade is located in a small village called Amstenrade, which is part of the municipality Beekdalen. If you want to visit kasteel Amstenrade you need to go to Hagendorenweg 1 Amstenrade. You can visit kasteel Amstenrade every day from 10:00 untill 16:00.

I live nearby kasteel Amstenrade and I visited the castle when I was at primary school. I needed to make an assignment at primary school about this castle. I remember that I was really impressed and we had to look up basic stuff. But now I want to know the history of the castle and when it was built so therefore, I chose kasteel Amstenrade.

It was built in 1781 after the old castle (built in 1609) was demolished. A part of the original castle has been preserved. The architect of the castle was Barthélemy Digneffe. He was born in Luik, he lived there his whole life and died there as well. He was one of the most important architects in the area. His building style was called the baroque architecture. The castle did not have a public function but was used as a private residence. It was bought

by Nicolaas Willems who was a banker in Luik. It still is privately owned by the family: currently Leïla, countess de Marchant et d’Ansembourg. But nowadays the castle can also be booked for tours.

Historical facts about the castle: The original castle was built by Huyn. Back then it was a castle with 4 towers. 1 of those 4 towers is still intact. The property was owned by the family Huyn till late 18th century. The building is registered under number 456066 in the monument register. The old castle had a canal around it. But they closed the canal when the new castle was built. A well-known resident was Max, count de Marchant et d’Ansembourg. He was an important politician from the NSB. It is settled with 110.000 m2 When I look at the castle, I first see a big entrance with a gate. Then you need to walk through the gate and you see the castle right before you. It is really big with a lot of rectangular windows. You see the tower that is on the corner. It is beautiful with the trees around it. I think that when you take a really good picture of it on a sunny day, that you can participate in a match for the most beautiful picture.

I like the fact that it is still intact and that people really live there, compared to kasteel Hoensbroek which has become a commercial castle. If I would be allowed to live in that castle, I would do it because it is really epic: you have a massive house, it is beautiful and you have your own opportunity to have a huge entrance. I like to have many cars, but I think it wouldn’t be a problem with all that space. But because it is in private use, you’re not able to see everything inside the castle. And I don’t like the fact if I would live there right now you need to have a sh*t load of money to decorate the inside and to pay a lot of money to keeping the building in shape.

This year the countess will open up the castle for the attendees of the yearly bike tour from Ettelbruck (Luxembourg) to Amstenrade (200 km) and she will organize a BBQ. My dad will participate in this tour as well.

Kasteel Cortenbach is 1 of the 5 castles located in Voerendaal and I think it’s the best out of the 5 because of the nature and history around Kasteel Cortenbach I chose Kasteel Cortenbach to write about because there’s enough to tell about, It’s close to where I live, the castle is located on an amazing place and it’s a good looking monument.

Kasteel Cortenbach is a very old castle located in Kunrade, Voerendaal. The castle was first built in the 14th century. Most of the castle is rebuilt in the 18th century but some parts are still authentic. Kasteel Cortenbach is now owned by Vebego (A cleaning company) . But there were made no changes to the castle by Vebego because Kasteel Cortenbach is a national monument.

When Kasteel Cortenbach was first built it was made completely made of Kunradersteen.

Kunradersteen was a very popular material to use for castles in the Southern of Limburg of the time because it was much harder than Mergelsteen. When Kasteel Cortenbach was being rebuilt in 1713 by Herman Lamberts, the castle was turned into a mansion and wasn’t used for any kind of war anymore.

The entire castle was broken down except for 2 little towers which are still standing up straight until this day. The current owner of Kasteel Cortenbach made the castle private property which means you can’t visit the castle except on festive or other special days. Kasteel Cortenbach looks like any other ordinary mansion from the outside but the more you look at the details or history of the castle you start to think differently about it. Kasteel Cortenbach has a little river flowing around it which came in handy in the Middle Ages. Now there is a little path above the river where visitors can walk on and see the castle and little pieces of the Cortenbacher Forest which is located right next to Kasteel Cortenbach. I like that Kasteel Cortenbach is located in the middle of nature and not on a busy location. I also like that there’s still leftovers from the original castle because it shows a little piece of the history of Kasteel Cortenbach.

A thing I don’t like about it though is that you’re not able to visit the castle at all times because I think every monument should be able to be seen by every person who shows any kind of interest in the castle.

This was my essay about Kasteel Cortenbach, I hope you enjoyed reading.

I’m going to write my essay about Schaesberg Castle which is located in Landgraaf, the Netherlands. I chose this monument because I like the way castles are built and I think you could learn a lot of interesting things about them, not only how they were built, but also why every castle is built differently.

The Schaesberg family was first seen in the year 1239. The family was of noble descent in Cologne, where they were one of the famous families. Frederik van Schaesberg was born on December the 21th in 1239 and was the first family member.

Frederik also devised the family crest, which is registered in the Peter and Paulus church. In 1710 Mr. Schaesberg received a promotion, which made him a national count and he was given a castle. This did not last very long because in 1733 Mr. Schaesberg died, unmarried and without children.

The castle was built in between the 16th and the 17th century. It was habited until the 18th century and then started to slowly break down. It is not known who was the architect of this castle but I think it could have been built by slaves. Due to much vandalism and arson in 1965 and the postponement of restorations it was to be rebuilt in 1968. In 1975 the municipality decided to keep the ruins of Schaesberg Castle. In 2005 only a few walls of the main tower and the gate were left after which they started rebuilding in 2012 in an authentic way which will take approximately 30 years. Because the castle will be rebuilt in the traditional way, people will learn a lot of new knowledge and experiences about how it all worked in those days. To do it exactly right, they will have to hire blacksmiths, furniture makers etc. This knowledge is useful, for example, for other ancient monuments when they need to be restored. The municipality also wants to rebuild it with the same type of building materials. This will take a lot of time and energy because thousands of stones are needed for the walls alone, large amounts of lime mortar, slate for the roofs, oak beams for the floors and doors, and so on. The blacksmiths will also have to work hard for all nails because they too will be handmade. In the coming years, the municipality will clean up the area and make plans for construction.

In the 18th century there was a notorious crook called the “Buck riders”. According to popular believe, they were people flying through the air on goats. What they actually did was extortion and violent robberies. A nice fact about Schaesberg Castle is that the “Buck riders” were actually imprisoned in Schaesberg Castle. They were imprisoned in a special prison cellar and well-guarded. In Schaesberg Castle were the torture rooms where the “Buck riders” were heard. A total of 45 “Buck riders” were interrogated in the cellars of Schaesberg Castle. Of these, 21 received a death sentence.

I think it is interesting how people lived back in those days and how the castles walls have like four times the size of the walls we have in our time. Also in the medieval time it is weird to see how big the difference is between poor people and rich people and how a lot of people died on the most common diseases like the flu. There is actually nothing I dislike about Schaesberg Castle, I just think it's a shame that people treated it so badly after the last family member of the Schaesberg family died.

This was my essay about the Schaesberg Castle. I’ve put a lot of work in it and I hope you liked it. Also you might have learnt new things about Schaesberg Castle that you didn’t even know. That is why reading is good for you, you learn new things!

I am going to write about the castle ruin in Valkenburg. The ruin is located at the Grendelplein 13 on top of a mountain in Valkenburg. I chose this castle ruin because it is close to my house and I like the stories behind the castle and how big it was. The ruin is very big and is completely made from marl which is typically from Limburg. The castle itself is a ruin, but you can see the foundation and you see where everything was placed back then. Nowadays it is a monument for tourists.

This old castle was built in the 10-17th century by the orders of Gosewein I,II and III from Valkenburg and was almost totally destroyed in 1672. It was built with typical marl from Limburg which I think, looks very nice. The old castle had 3 main parts.

The 1st part was a squared tower which was 12 by 16 metres and was used by people who lived in there to be safe. It was made of flint and other natural stones and was built

by Gosewein I in 1075. The castle was already destroyed in 1122 by the army of Boudewijn I from Leuven. You can’t see part 1 anymore because sadly enough it was never rebuilt. The 2nd part was a tower in the shape of a hexagon which was built on the exact same spot as the first part of the castle. This tower was made by the orders of son of Gosewein I, called Gosewein II and was built with this typical marl from Limburg. It was 15 metres high and the walls were 2 metres thick. The wall was so thick to protect the castle and the people from attacks of enemies. Around the second part was made a palisade, which is in easier words a fence. Also Gosewein II had a couple of times in conflict with the German emperor. This lead to, again, a destroyed castle in 1141. The 3rd part which you can see now also was made in 1200. It was a tower in the shape of a decagon and many chambers which all had a function and were as big as a living room what we have now. It is impressive to see what they could built back then. The palisade was rebuilt in stone and many more houses were built within the palisade, including a chapel. This all was built by the orders of Gosewein III. During the middle ages, the castle was attacked multiple times. Towers were rebuilt many times and more houses were built. In 1329 the castle was almost completely destroyed. During the eighty years 'war, the castle changed owners many times. It was even captured by France with as target to capture Maastricht, because back then Maastricht was a very important city. On the 5th of August, the French, who were the boss over the southern part of the Netherlands since 1773, sold the castle to the earl Maximiliaan van Hoen. Because of the heritage, the family villers-Maasbourg became owner of the castle. They made a fence around the castle in 1863 for prevention against vandalism. Architect Pierre Cuypers made a plan to rebuild the castle in 1894, but it wasn’t realised. The castle was sold for 18,200 guilders to a foundation that made a consolidation of all parts that were left of the castle in 1923-1930. The current owner, whose family is owner since 1924, has as aim to keep the castle safe and to keep it accessible for tourists. He does his work really well and has done loads of things to restore the castle.

What is quite impressive to see is how big the castle was. The architect back then was very smart to build the castle on a mountain. Because the castle was on the mountain, they could see if enemies were coming and they could prepare for a fight. They could see enemies coming from very far away, so they well prepared. This castle was one of the strongest and best-located castles of that time. And that is why you can nowadays still see parts of the castle. The castle was again restored in 1951 and is in my opinion a very big an interesting castle.

I went to this castle ruin two times and I still think it is nice to go there because I think you are never done with seeing all things and listening to people who tell about the history and all the wars the castle went through. There are lots of stories about the history of the castle and about the people who lived there and it is very interesting to hear from a guide who knows everything about the castle. I used some of the things the guide told us. It is a really nice and big castle which you can see from far away because it is on a mountain and it is worth it to go and visit it.

Growing up in Heerlen I saw the Schelmentoren countless of times, but I had never realised that it was an historical monument with an important function. I think this is the case with more people so I hope I can inform a lot of people.

In this report I'm going to write about the Schelmentoren, which is a historical monument from the Middle Ages located in the centre of the city, Heerlen. Before I'm going to write about the Schelmentoren, I first want to give some information about Heerlen.

Heerlen is famous and known for its coal-mining days and Heerlen has a big history in the Middle Ages during the Roman Time. Heerlen starts as a small town called Coriovallum, which means 'excellent location reinforcement' or 'army place´. Due to coal mining, the village of Heerlen grew explosively in the first half of the 20thcentury into the second city of Limburg and the centre of the Eastern Mining region. In 1965 the government decided to close the mines since Heerlen had focused entirely on mining this caused the economy to falter. Heerlen was faced with an operation to attract and provide work in other sectors.

If you wander through the streets of Heerlen today, you will hardly notice anything that has something to do with our mining history, but if you look closely you can still see a lot of pieces of history that refer to the Middle Ages.

There are still all kinds of historical monuments and buildings spread through Heerlen.

The Schelmentoren is also an monument from the Middle Ages. It’s a big tower located in the centre of the city Heerlen. It´s located on the Pancratiusplein and next to the Pancratiuskerk. The tower was built during the Middle Ages and it served as a city castle, defence tower and prison tower. The exact date when the tower was founded or who founded it isn’t known, but it is known that the Schelmentoren was built in the 12th century and during that time it was used as a defensible residential tower for the Lords of Are. During that time, Heerlen's two-meter thick defense wall was also erected around the Landsfort Herle. However, in the State period of Heerlen the function of the fort came to an end. The fort was in a poor condition and the request for subsidy to restore the gates and the ramparts was rejected by both the countries of Overmaze and the States General. The repair work on the tower was entirely borne by the Heerlen alderman's bank, who decided to use the tower for other purposes, such as a meeting room, wood storage room and a prison. In the 18th century during the Buck riders Period, the tower was used as a council chamber, courtroom, prison and torture chamber. There were 37 buck riders prisoned in the tower, and it is said that there were cellars inside the tower which are connected to corridors under the church and church square which is probably how prisoners managed to escape. Until the 20th century it was used as a prison, afterwards it was no longer in use and the tower was just empty. Nowadays the tower is managed by a carnival club named ‘The Winkbülle.’ The prison cells are still there and still function, but of course it isn’t used anymore. The tower is now used as a meeting room for all the members and various committees such as ‘De Raad van Elf and ‘Het Gilde Blauw Sjuut.’

I went to the tower myself to hopefully gather some more information and to give my own thoughts and impressions of the tower. Since I couldn´t find much information online I went to the prison tower myself to see if I see the tower differently knowing about the historical facts. At the first glance you will think it´s just an ordinary tower connected with the Pancratiuskerk next to it, but if you look closely you can still see the bars at the window, and with a bit of imagination you can imagine the monument as a prison tower. Looking at the tower I could see that it´s from the ancient times by the way the stones are built and a bit damaged.

In conclusion my first impression is that the prison tower looks like an ordinary tower, but if u look closely and know about the history it´s an impressive monument.

The Grendelpoort is an ancient city gate which is located in Valkenburg aan de Geul and is built around 1335. Since 1967 the gate is a national monument. As Valkenburg is my home town, I regularly walk through the city center. (Yes, Valkenburg is officially a city and not a village). During these walks I have passed the gate more than once. Every pass I became more and more interested in the Grendelpoort. With this essay I have the opportunity to try to get more people interested in this gate and all the other beautiful ancient buildings of Valkenburg. When doing research for this essay I found out that there is a lot to tell about such a small gate.

In Valkenburg there still are remainings of the ancient Castle of Valkenburg which was built in 1075 by Gosewijn I, lord of Valkenburg. These days it is called the “castle ruin of Valkenburg”.

At that time there was no city wall around Valkenburg as we currently think about city walls made of stone, but it was only made of soil and wood. In 1329, when Reinoud van Valkenburg was the lord of Valkenburg (stories tell that he probably has never lived there), duke Jan III, the leader of Brabant, attacked Valkenburg. In this battle, the son of Reinoud, Walram II, died. After the capture, the castle and the defenses were demolished. To protect the city much better, the castle, the city and walls were relocated .The walls were built from stone and could defend Valkenburg of attackers. To enter the city, three gates placed in the wall. From the top of the gates soldiers could protect the gates and the city. But in later history, the city was under siege more than once. Every time the castle, city wall and gates were damaged or even destroyed. At the beginning of the Dutch War in 1672, the army of William the Third reconquered Valkenburg on the French army and destroyed the castle and city walls to prevent that French could use Valkenburg to conquer Maastricht. However, we all know that this didn’t work out as they thought it would. Since then, the ruin of the castle is as we know it these days.

As mentioned earlier, there were three gates placed in the city wall of Valkenburg. The names of the gates are: Grendelpoort, Berkelpoort and Geulpoort. In Dutch, the word “poort” means gate. The name of the Grendelpoort was initially not Grendelpoort but Bergerpoort, Maastrichtse Poort or Trichterpoort (named to the villages where the road to the gate came from). The current name of the gate comes from a small gate on the outside of the gate, where a well was located. The well was called the Grendelput. The Grendelput disappeared a long time ago but the name stayed. The Grendelpoort was built around 1335. The Grendelpoort was renovated two times, the first big renovation was in 1929 and the second big renovation was in 2014. This is because the gates are more than seven centuries old and they were in very poor condition. When you look at the gate you see that it is renovated because there are light and dark colored marl stones in the gate. The light colored stones are the new ones and the dark colored ones are the recycled old stones (dark because of air pollution). One interesting fact: on the 24th of September 1901, a car with Dutch officer Van Asbeck, together with Russian, French and German military attachés and two drivers, came down the steep Cauberg. Because the breaks of cars at that time were not build for such steep roads, they broke down. The car could not be stopped and drove against the Grendelpoort. Only Van Asbeck died during this accident. He was the first person to die in a car accident that took place in the Netherlands.

These days, the gate is yearly passed by thousands of tourists from all over the world to wander around in the city of Valkenburg with all the marl/limestone buildings (old ones and new ones, monuments or not). Most of the time this ends in sitting down on a terrace of one of the many restaurants or bars to watch other people of the be watched by others.

In 1939 a man called Jean Hermans came up with the idea to make a memorial for all the people who worked in the mines in Limburg, but especially for the injured mineworkers: D’r Joep.

The conditions in the mines were very bad, people had to work hard for not much money and the air inside the mines could cause health problems like lung infections. So every time they went down there they risked their lives because something might collapse or their lungs would not survive. Jean Hermans was the son of an injured mineworker so this is also the main reason why he wanted to make a memorial for these people. A few years later the township of Kerkrade really wanted to do something with it, there were a few people who wanted to make something so they held a contest amongst them. Eventually a man called Wim van Hoorn who also made a lot of memorials for the second world war won. He called his statue the mineworker which a little bit later was called D’r Joep.

In 1957 the statue of D’r Joep finally got revealed by Mrs Houben who was the governor of Kerkrade at that time, she also said the words: “Doa sjteet d’r joep inge echte koaler.” Which means there stands D’r Joep a true mineworker. D’r Joep is located at a square in Kerkrade called D’r maat which means the market. The statue weighs around 11,000 kilos and is made out of 40,000 gulden worth of bronze. It has a very specific kind of black blueish colour to represent the darkness of the mines. On the 5th of November 1996 the township was planning on renovating D’r maat a little bit which resulted in D’r Joep being moved 5 metres to the north from its original position. D’r Joep is especially famous for carnaval which we celebrate every year in Limburg. Every year D’r Joep gets dressed in a clown suit, usually a lot of people come to D’r maat to be there when it happens. Everyone in Kerkrade is proud of D’r Joep and the statue itself looks very nice, it’s also a way for the older people who might have worked in the mines themselves to remember their friends or just the time that they worked in the mines.

D’r Joep is originally made for Kerkrade but it symbolizes the mines throughout Limburg. In 2006 the memorial had its 50th anniversary which was a big event and a lot of old mineworkers held speeches in front of D’r Joep. The statue is standing on a big block which is seen as just a part of the statue but if you look closely you can see that they’re actually separate from each other. Since D’r Joep is loved by a lot of people there are a lot of companies who donate to the statue to make sure it stays in good condition. One of them is Linssen BV which also supplies the stone needed for the replicas that are made of the statue, the replica is 24 cm high and surrounded with a layer of bronze, a lot of them sold already.

In conclusion, D’r Joep is very important for Kerkrade and also for the people who are in some kind of way related to the statue. That’s also why I choose to write about it since I also live in Kerkrade so I’m also very proud of it and its obviously very fun to write about it. When I look at the statue I can see a brave man who is strong and looks like a true mineworker. There is almost nothing I don’t like about it, maybe the colours are a bit the same everywhere but that’s as I already mentioned to symbolise the dark dust in the mines. I hope that in the future D’r Joep will still symbolise the mines in Limburg and it will still stand for all those people who made Limburg what it is right now.

I’m going to write about the famous donkey which is standing on the Pancratiusplein in Heerlen. The real name of the donkey is “D’r lachende eëzel”, this means the laughing / smiling donkey in English. Almost everybody in Heerlen knows about the donkey, this is because the donkey is situated on the most popular square in Heerlen.

The Pancratiusplein is a square in the center of Heerlen. If you walk into Heerlen (depends in which way you walk in) via the Akerstraat, you are directly on the Pancratiusplein. When you are standing on the Pancratiusplein, you will definitely see the donkey. I’m just going to write donkey instead of laughing / smiling donkey, just so you know.

“D’r lachende eëzel” is made in 1992 by the sculptor Cryiel Laudy. Cryiel Laudy is an artist who is born in Heerlen in 1960.

His nationality is Dutch and he made the Donkey all by himself. The donkey is the symbol of the carnival association in Heerlen, called the WinkBülle.

Carnival is a typical party in Limburg with a lot of alcohol (not for the youth) and party music. The WinkBülle is the biggest carnival association in Heerlen. During carnival you have a city-prince and a youth city-prince. The WinkBülle always have the two princes of Heerlen. In 2017, I had the youth city-prince of Heerlen in my class at my primary school. He’s also at Sintermeerten nowadays. If you ask me, carnival is a hilarious fest!

The donkey was revealed on the 23th of February in 1992 by the mayor Piet van Zeil together with carnival cityprince Max II. The donkey was placed for the 4x11 year anniversary of the WinkBülle. Carnival starts on the 11th of November, that’s why they celebrated the 4 times 11 years existence.

The donkey has one function, it reminds people of carnival and the WinkBülle. The donkey is standing on a movable pole, because of this many people give it a swing when they walk past. My English teacher, Mister van Roekel, once told me that he always gives the donkey a swing and since then I also give it a swing when I walk past the donkey. It is so addictive to do, I think that’s also the function. The donkey stands on an iron pole that is attached to a large block on the ground. The pole van rotate, this is why the donkey can make a loop when you give it a swing. The donkey is at normal height, this allows people to turn it / hang on it, etc. What I really like about the donkey is that it is a kind of play device, a lot children sit on it and are then pushed by others. Because the donkey is made of steel, it can also take beating, so you don’t have to worry that you will break it quickly. But if you are going to kick it or push it very roughly, it is a different story.

I chose this topic because of my own memories of the donkey during my childhood and of course still these days.

One of the main reasons why I chose this topic is that the donkey was a landmark for me when I was younger.

The donkey was a landmark for me because I knew the way home and to my grandparents’ from the donkey.

When I went to Heerlen all by self for the first couple of times, I always got lost. I was then so excited that I could go to Heerlen all by myself that I walked into many different directions. When it was time to go home, I always had to ask people in which direction the donkey was. When I found the donkey I was able to find my way home or to my grandparents’.

These days it is more a meeting point for me, when I’m going to Heerlen with friends, I always say let’s meet at the Donkey. Or when my family comes to Heerlen I always say that when they are lost they have to ask for the Donkey which is standing on the Pancratiusplein. They don’t know the way because they live in Tilburg. This is basically how I came to this topic. Thanks for reading my Essay, I hope you all liked it.

I’m writing about Tempsplein in Heerlen.

Tempsplein is a small square with a statue of Jesus in the middle. It was built in 1912 by the Dutch architect Jan Stuyt. Stuyt was a famous church architect in the 20th century. He built a lot of different buildings and churches in Limburg. In 1908 he started his own architectural office in Amsterdam. When he died in 1934 his son Giacomo took over the office for a few years.

In 1922 Toon Depuis got the task to create a statue of Jesus to put on the square. It took two years to make the statue so in 1924 they were able to see the statue. In 1999 Tempsplein became a protected place by the state. It is located a bit outside of the city center. Around the square there are houses located. In the middle there is the square and in the middle of the square there is a statue of Jesus. And around it there are benches for people to sit on. On the square there are also different kinds of trees and plants. The trees growing there are the magnolia trees. They are also known as tulips trees.

Around the square there are all kinds of different things. There are some houses. There is a library that was built in 1917 by J.Pauw and J.M.Hardeveld. In 1994 they changed the library into six different apartments. They also built a church. It was built in 1931. It was built as monks house but when they renovated the church in 1993 it changed in a protestant church. And when you walk to the end of the street on one side there is a shop called ‘’broodje a la carte’’ you can buy great sandwiches there and get a fresh orange juice. But if that is too expensive you can also just walk to the other end of the street and then you can go to the supermarket.

I have chosen this square because it is one of my favorite places to hang out with my friends. And most of the time there are people to talk with so there is always something to do. And it is nice that there are no high buildings around it so that the sun always is shining through. And it has a lot of nice memories thinking about this square. For instance, last summer they were renovating the square. So they made new benches and they painted the statue of Jesus. When we were sitting there we found a phone of one of the workers who were renovating the square. So we logged in luckily it did have a code on it so we called his girlfriend. And she called the work of her husband and he was coming back to pick it up.

He gave us €10,- because we gave him the phone back.

What I don’t like is that we give other people nuisance. Like once the police came to warn us because people around the square called them because we were making too much noise. And a lot of people don’t clean up when they leave the spot where they were sitting so sometimes it is a bit of a mess there.

So this was my part i hope you learned a bit more about Tempsplein and enjoyed reading it.

I am going to write about my favourite playground. The reason why is because it is a small subtle playground that I have a lot of histories with and I am excited to share my story with all of you because it is going to be very entertaining. (or that is what I hope it to be)  Like I said the Oranje pleintje (orange square) is a playground. It is located on Heerlerbaan at the Palestinastraat across number 177 in a small park. It was built in 2015 and before that there was another playground, but that was burned down by some older kids. It is built by the oranje fonds because the other playground was damaged. There aren’t any historical facts about it because it is a recently built playground.

If I look at the playground with my eyes and without my mind I see black poles standing on a rubber like ground with a swing and a little climb stretch. There is also a little black platform that leads to an metal slide. The platform has the orange walls and that makes it recognizable. Next to the climb stretch is a spinning wheel like sitting space that you can move in circles. If you look behind the playground you see another rope climbing stretch with a red colour standing on white sand, but you also see a big gap in the grass.

If I look at it with my mind I have a lot to tell, like a lot a lot because I have so many great memories with it. Let’s begin at the very beginning when the blue playground was still there. At the time the blue playground was there, I did not go outside that often because the older kids that smoked and stuff were always there. So then when the orange square came around the older kids were older and they had to go to college or got a job, so at that moment I went outside a lot. I had one friend when I went outside but then I met her friends and I made more friends. As I told you about the spinning wheel thingy I have some things to tell about that. There were two blue baskets and two green baskets then there was one red basket and people always said that the older kids peed and spit in that one so always when we wanted to go in there, you had to be quick otherwise you had to sit in the red basket. One time my uncle also pushed me with the swing and he pushed me so hard that I broke my arm. That was the time I didn’t live next to the play garden, but in a whole other street. Now I live next to the play garden and I can go whenever I want to, but now I don’t go there anymore because the really little children play there now. What I really like about it is that I made so many memories with it and that I have made friends at the play garden. What I really don’t like is that at the time I played there a lot that sometimes the older kids still came there and that now the really small children play there because I do want to sit there again with my friends and make some new memories as we change and the playground also changes.

My friends and I really miss the times that we played there because I played at the same park since I was 6. And the same playground since I was 9. Fun fact: my friends and I accidently broke the swing once.

I hope you all enjoyed my story about the Oranje pleintje because it was a pleasure to write it for you.

Thank you for reading. 