Tilburg is a city in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant and capital of the municipality of Tilburg with the same name. On January 1, 2020, the city had 198,985 inhabitants.
Prehistoric traces of habitation in present-day
Tilburg have been found at the industrial estate Kraaiven and date
back to 9000 years before Christ. Current science assumes that they
were itinerant hunter-gatherers of the Tjonger culture.
The
name Tilburg appears for the first time in the Liber aureus from
1191. In it a document from 709 was copied that would have been
drawn up in Tilburg (actum publice Tilliburgis). The current Tilburg
was then known as West Tilburg, while East Tilburg was overshadowed
by Oisterwijk, which was founded right next to it in 1212. The
entire estate, which included even more places, is known as
Groot-Tilburg. In 1387 Tilburg was separated from Oisterwijk and,
together with Goirle, they formed the manor of Tilburg and Goirle.
This was part of the Kwartier van Oisterwijk of the Meierij van
's-Hertogenbosch.
In the 15th century, Jan van Haestrecht,
one of the lords of Tilburg, had Tilburg Castle built, which had to
make way for a factory in 1858. It can still be found in the city's
coat of arms and logo. The administrative unit of Tilburg arose from
a number of hamlets, so-called herdgangen, which were connected with
each other. The old village centers can still be found in the names
of various old neighborhoods.
On the basis of the available
sheep farming, Tilburg grew into the most important wool city of
Brabant around 1600 and in the mid-18th century it outstripped the
almost completely disappeared Dutch textile industry. On April 18,
1809, Tilburg received city rights from Louis Napoleon, then monarch
of the Kingdom of Holland. This happened during an inspection trip
that the king made from April 13 to May 17, 1809 in the departments
of Brabant and Zeeland. During this trip many problems of Tilburg
and Brabant were discussed. Examples are the infrastructure, health
care, restitution of the churches and the weekly markets. The city
then had 9000 inhabitants.
In the years that followed,
important connecting roads were established, such as the road from
Breda via Tilburg to 's-Hertogenbosch in 1826 and the railway to
Breda in 1863. The Wilhelmina Canal, which provided Tilburg with a
port, came into use in 1916 but was not used until Completed 1923.
Piushaven was dug in 1921.
King Willem II liked to stay in Tilburg. He once remarked about the
place: "Here I breathe freely and I feel happy" (also quoted as
"Here I breathe frankly and freely"). The Tilburg palace was built
on his behalf in 1847, nowadays referred to as Paleis-Raadhuis. It
served as a country residence, but due to the growth of the city it
has come to lie in the center. The king himself was never able to
reside in it because he died before it was completed. However, he
was laid out in it after his death.
The palace was
transferred by the royal family to the municipality, on the
condition that a Hogere Burger School (HBS) would be established in
it, the first in Noord-Brabant. This "Rijks HBS Koning Willem II"
still exists as Koning Willem II College, but in a different
building. The most famous student of this HBS is Vincent van Gogh,
who attended the school in the period 1866-1868. In the Palace-Town
Hall, a drawing room has been recreated in the style of the time of
Vincent van Gogh.
The indoor connection of this
white-plastered building with the so-called Black Box, officially
called Stadskantoor 1, dates from the time when the palace was used
as a town hall.
The city
became big at the end of the 19th century due to the textile
industry that settled between the herds. In 1871 the city had no
fewer than 125 wool fabric factories. Tilburg was therefore called
the wool city. At the end of the 19th century, numerous mansions
were built that can still be found in the city. This gradually
resulted in a city structure with shops and workers' houses.
The development into a city brought with it the need for a general
expansion plan, which was drawn up in 1917 by the urban planner
Johan Rückert. This anticipated the future demographic development
of the city and the bottlenecks in the traffic structure, including
the railway line that divided the growing city in two. In 1940 the
city already had 93,000 inhabitants.
In 1927, the Roman
Catholic Trade College was founded, which has grown into the current
university.
The Second World War was also the greatest disaster that history had ever brought to Tilburg for Tilburg. The bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal was blown up by the Dutch army. Already in the May days of 1940, Tilburg was the target of German bombings, resulting in fourteen deaths. After that, incidental bombings followed. Eighteen Dutch soldiers from Tilburg were killed defending against the German attack.
After the Second World War, developments
continued. The plans for the east-west boulevard south of the
railway, first formulated in 1947, were further developed in 1953
and realized in 1958. In 1960 the city already had 139,000
inhabitants.
During the 60s of the 20th century, the textile
industry disappeared. This loss was offset by the establishment of
modern industry on business parks on the outskirts of the city. The
city center was tackled from 1975 onwards. This was often done in a
rigorous manner, with the traffic flow receiving the most attention.
Much historical heritage was demolished and the so-called Cityring
was built around the city center. The Koningsplein was also
constructed, on the site of the former Koningswei district. Because
of all this, the then mayor Cees Becht, responsible for these plans,
was nicknamed Cees de Sloper.
From the 80s
of the 20th century, further expansion took place, showing more
respect for the heritage present.
A clear high-rise policy
has been developed in Tilburg since 1993. This resulted in three
tall buildings that can be regarded as skyscrapers by Dutch
standards, namely the Interpolis head office, the Westpoint
residential tower and the StadsHeer. Westpoint is 143.1 meters high
and was therefore the highest residential tower in the Netherlands
for a short time, a title that was later taken over by Montevideo in
Rotterdam. The StadsHeer, Tilburg's second residential tower, is 101
meters high. This residential tower is part of the 'Het
Haestrechtkwartier' project. This concerns an area located in the
station zone, immediately west of Central Station, consisting of
four offices, a parking garage and a residential tower. The
StadsHeer has been nicknamed 'De Vogelkooikes' because of its
criticized appearance with its large cube-shaped balconies that seem
stuck to the building.
From 2012, an urban area has developed
around the Piushaven with various luxury apartment complexes (built
in the period 2012-2019), where living, working, going out and water
sports come together.
The oldest
parish church in Tilburg, or actually West Tilburg, stood on the
same place where the Heikese church is now. It was dedicated to
Saint Dionysius. Little is known of the history of this church,
except that it was expanded from 1430 onwards. The Gothic church was
rededicated in 1483. In 1595 the church burned down due to acts of
war during the Eighty Years' War. It was rebuilt and rededicated as
such in 1619. In 1648 the church was requisitioned by the reforms
and in 1650 the Catholics moved into a border church in Steenvoort,
which belonged to Poppel. Later mass was celebrated in the
outbuildings of Tilburg Castle and in 1691 a barn church was built
in 't Heike and in 1715 there was also a barn church in Goirke. It
is true that Catholics got their church back in Napoleonic times,
but it was poorly maintained. In 1827 a neoclassical front was added
and some time later the church was demolished and rebuilt as a
neoclassical hall church. It was a water management church. This
church was consecrated in 1838.
From the mid-19th century,
new churches were built at a rapid pace. The names of Joannes
Zwijsen and Peerke Donders are associated with the 19th-century
Catholic history of Tilburg. Partly thanks to Joannes Zwijsen,
Tilburg became a Catholic stronghold, as evidenced by the large
number of monasteries and churches that can still be found in the
city today, such as the Goirkese church and the Heuvelse church. At
its peak Tilburg had 31 parish churches. During the 70s of the 20th
century there was a change. The secularization resulted in many
parishes being merged. Several churches and monastic buildings have
been demolished or converted for other purposes.
See the list
of religious buildings in Tilburg for an overview of fully or
partially preserved churches and monastic buildings.