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Hilversum

Country	The Netherlands
Province	North Holland
Coordinates and maps	{{{dn}}}° N {{{de}}}° E mq mm me mw sat
Mayor	E.C. Bakker (D66)
Area - Land - Water	46.19 km² 45.98 km² 0.21 km²
Population - Density	83,096 (2005) 1,807/km²
Website	http://www.hilversum.nl/

Hilversum is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Located in the region called "'t Gooi", it is the largest city in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller villages.

Contents 1 The town Hilversum 2 History 3 Local government 4 Railway connections 5 References 6 External links

The town Hilversum

Hilversum lies some 30 km south-east of Amsterdam and 25 km north of Utrecht.

The town is often called "media city" as it is the principal centre for radio and television broadcasting in the Netherlands. Radio Netherlands, heard worldwide via shortwave radio since the 1920s, is based here. Hilversum is home to an extensive complex of audio and television studios belonging to the national broadcast production company NOB, as well as to the studios and offices of all the Dutch public broadcasting organizations and many commercial TV production companies too.

Hilversum is also known for its architecturally important "Raadhuis" or town hall, designed by Willem Dudok (1884-1974).

History

Hilversum started out as nothing but a big slab of land used for agriculture. Around 900 it started to form, but it wasn't until 1305 that the first official mention of Hilversum ("Hilfershem") was made. At this point in time, it was a part of Laren, the oldest town in the Gooi area.

Some believe that Hilversum was built by the Belgians when they fled from the Spanish troops, but some official documents clearly define that the area now called Hilversum was used as nothing but farmland to provide Amsterdam with food. In March 1424, Hilversum received its most coveted official independent status. This caused some growth in the town, which was still nothing but an agricultural hovel. In 1725 and 1766, big fires destroyed most of the town, levelling parts of the old townhouse and the church next to it.

Hilversum started to become a media city when the Philips company established a radio factory there. In 1964, the inhabitant count reached a record high - over 103,000 people were living there. At the moment it fluctuates around 84,000.

In 2002, contested Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was assassinated at Hilversum Media Park after just having finished a radio interview.

Hilversum has three libraries (two of which will be closing next year), two swimming pools (Helmond Sport and De Lieberg), a number of sporting halls and several shopping centres (such as Hilvertshof, Kerkelanden, Riebeeck-Gallerij, Severijn, and Chatham). In the region the city centre is known as 'het dorp' which means 'the village'.

Local government

The municipal government of Hilversum consists of 37 seats, which are divided as follows:

• Leefbaar Hilversum - 8 seats
• CDA - 7 seats
• VVD - 6 seats
• GroenLinks - 5 seats
• PvdA - 5 seats
• D66 - 4 seats
• ChristenUnie/SGP - 1 seat
• Groep Munnik - 1 seat

Railway connections

Hilversum is connected to the Dutch railway network, and contains three stations: Hilversum, Hilversum Noord, and Hilversum Sportpark (hvs, hvsn, and hvsp on lines 32 and 40).

References

• Statistics are taken from the SDU Staatscourant

External links

• Hilversum Airport
• Hilversum Media Park

North Holland Province
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