- Voorburg
Voorburg is a Dutch town and former municipality of approximately 39,000 inhabitants in the western part of the province of
South Holland , the Netherlands. Together withLeidschendam andStompwijk , it is part of the municipalityLeidschendam-Voorburg .In 2002, the cities of Leidschendam and Voorburg were merged together under the new city name "Leidschendam-Voorburg". Situated adjacent to the city of
The Hague , they are often regarded as its suburb.Voorburg, the most densely populated of the three towns in the municipality, has its roots in the
2nd century , when a local civilian settlement gained city rights from the Romans, becoming known as "Forum Hadriani ". It was positioned along theFossa Corbulonis , a canal connecting Rhine and Meuse that had been dug in 47 by the Roman generalCorbulo . This waterway is now known as the Rijn-Schie canal (more commonly referred to as the "Vliet") and is still a dominant landmark of the present day borough.Famous inhabitants of Voorburg include the 17th century author and poet
Constantijn Huygens , who spent many years building his small country house "Hofwijck" with adjacent geometrically shaped gardens alongside the "Vliet". His son, the famous astronomer and mathematicianChristiaan Huygens , spent several years in his father's Voorburg country house. The house, located next to the main railway station, now functions as a museum.Spinoza also lived in Voorburg from 1663 to 1670. The former (Balkenende 3) Dutch Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment,Pieter Winsemius , was also born in Voorburg.Voorburg hosts the major branch of the country's statistics institute, the CBS, which provides most of the statistical data used by the government.
Voorburg had three train stations until June 2006: Voorburg, Voorburg 't Loo and Leidschendam-Voorburg. The latter two are now part of
Randstad Rail . Voorburg used to be an Intercity station, because there was an eternal agreement with the railways, that every passing train should stop. It lost that status, as the new train station is elevated and therefore no longer on the soil of Voorburg.External links
* [http://www.livius.org/ga-gh/germania/corbulonis.html Livius.org: Fossa Corbulonis (The Canal of Corbulo)]
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