Heemskerk

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Heemskerk

---

imagesize = 230px
image_caption = Assumburg Castle


flag_size = 120x100px
image_shield = Heemskerk wapen.pngshield_size = 120x100px


mapsize = 280px
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = Netherlands
subdivision_type1 = Province
subdivision_name1 = North Holland
leader_name = B.B. Schneiders
leader_party = PvdA
area_footnotes = (2006)
area_total_km2 = 31.73
area_land_km2 = 27.48
area_water_km2 = 4.25
population_as_of = 1 January, 2007
population_note = Source: CBS, [http://statline.cbs.nl/ Statline] .
settlement_type = Municipality
population_total = 38051
population_density_km2 = 1385
timezone = CET
utc_offset = +1
timezone_DST = CEST
utc_offset_DST = +2
latd = 52.52
latNS = N
longd = 4.67
longEW = E
website = [http://www.heemskerk.nl www.heemskerk.nl]

Heemskerk (pronunciation|Nl-Heemskerk.ogg) is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland.

Local Government

The municipal council of Heemskerk consists of 25 seats, which are divided as follows:

* PvdA - 8 seats
* CDA - 6 seats
* VVD - 5 seats
* GroenLinks - 3 seats
* Heemskerk Anders - 2 seats
* D66 - 1 seats

With CDA, VVD and GroenLinks in college, bypassing PvdA who got the most votes.

History

It is not sure where the name of Heemskerk comes from. The town was already known during the Middle Ages. In an official deed from the year of 1063, the town was known as "Hemezen Kyrica", Latinized Frisian meaning Church of Hemezen, a Frisian nun who lived in a religious house there. Heemskerk knows many historical monuments, among them the "Huldtoneel" (lit. the "Inaugurate Stage"), an artificial hill located near the current Rijksstraatweg, where once the Counts of Holland where inaugurated. According to tradition, the Huldtoneel was used before the Roman Era as a Germanic sanctuary. In the 19th century Jonkheer Gevers finally made the Huldtoneel a monument - as it is known today - and ordered passers-by to honour the monument.

Many battles have been fought in Heemskerk. Two castles - Castle Oud Haerlem and Castle Heemskerk - were built in the 12th and 13th century respectively to protect the County of Holland against the West Frisians. In the 15th century the residents of Heemskerk fought each other during the Hook and Cod wars, in which both castles were destroyed. The Oud Haerlem castle was never rebuilt, Castle Heemskerk however was. In 1492 a rebellion by the people of Kennemerland was brutally beaten down by the Austrian conquerors, on the place where today the cemetery of the Hervormde Kerk (Reformed Church) is located. In 1610 the Castle Heemskerk was renamed to Castle Marquette and was at first the residence for many nobles and later inhabited by patricians. The last noble family that lived there were the House of Gevers. Today Castle Marquette is owned by the Spanish hotelgroup NH Hoteles and is the site of many weddings, conferences, company courses and the estate around the castle is perfect for wedding photos.

Located on the eastside of Heemskerk is Castle Assumburg, built from the remains of Kasteel Oud Haerlem in 1546. The Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church) at the Nielenplein and Kerkplein is built in 1628, but it has a tower from the Middle Ages. In the square around the church is a monument dedicated to the painter Maarten van Heemskerck. The former town hall was built in 1911 after a design by Jan Stuyt and was raised with an additional floor in 1949. Today this is the building where Janssen's notary office is located. The Roman-Catholic Laurentiuskerk (locally better known as the "Lau"), designed by architect J.H. Tonnaer, was completed in 1891 and is a rare example of a Catholic church in neo-renascence style. There is nothing left of other historical monuments, like Castle Oud Haerlem.

Agricultural Village

After the time of knights and nobles, Heemskerk remained a small, quiet village near the dunes. Its residents, who mainly worked in agriculture and keeping cattle, had good, but also some very bad times. From the time that products - mainly strawberries for the neighbouring town Beverwijk, where the fruits were sold - were brought to the market with donkeys, people from Heemskerk got the name of Donkey as a nickname and symbol.

Notable People Born in Heemskerk

*Maarten van Heemskerck (1498 - 1574), painter.
*Bart Schraa (November 22nd, 1968), football player: Bayer Leverkusen, FC Schalke 04, Arminia Bielefeld.
*Arthur Numan (December 14th, 1969), football player: HFC Haarlem, FC Twente, PSV, Rangers.
*Peter Wijker (July 20th, 1971), football player: AZ, FC Volendam.
*Dennis Lens (September 25th, 1977), badminton player.
*Raymond Bronckhorst (August 6th, 1978), football player: FC Groningen, SC Cambuur.
*Rafael van der Vaart (February 11th 1983), football player: AFC Ajax, Hamburger SV.

References

* Statistics are taken from the [http://www.sdu.nl/staatscourant/gemeentes/gem209nh.htm SDU Staatscourant]

External links

* [http://www.plattegronden.nl/gemeenteheemskerk/ A map of Heemskerk]
* http://www.polsstokverspringen.nl/ Horizontal pole-vaulting across the Neksloot
* http://www.heemskerkinbeeld.nl