Zutphen Totally Explained

Everything about Zutphen totally explained

is one of the oldest cities of the Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland on the right bank of the IJssel at the influx of the Berkel. It lies about 30 kilometers north-east Arnhem. In 2005, the municipality of Zutphen merged with the municipality of Warnsveld, retaining its name. The municipality has about 47,000 inhabitants.

History

Zutphen received city rights between 1190 and 1196, making it one of the oldest cities in the country. Only Utrecht, Groningen and Deventer preceded Zutphen in receiving city rights. Zutphen, in turn, granted city rights to several other cities, such as Arnhem, Doetinchem, Lochem and Harderwijk. In the Middle Ages, Zutphen was the seat of a line of counts, which became extinct in the 12th century.
   One of the largest and oldest churches of the country, the St. Walburgis (Saint Walpurga) church, which dates from the 12th century and contains monuments of the former counts of Zutphen, a 13th century candelabrum, an elaborate copper font (1527), and a fine modern monument to the Van Heeckeren family. The chapter-house ("Librije") contains a pre-Reformation library which includes some valuable MSS. and incunabula. Unique is that these old books are chained to the ancient wooden desk they lay on. Having been fortified the town stood several sieges, specially during the wars of freedom waged by the Dutch, the most celebrated fight under its walls being the one in September 1586 when Sir Philip Sidney was mortally wounded. Taken by the Spaniards in 1587 by the treachery of the English commander Rowland York, Zutphen was recovered by Maurice, prince of Orange, in 1591, and except for two short periods, one in 1672 and the other during the French Revolutionary Wars, it has since then remained a part of the Netherlands. Its fortifications were dismantled in 1874.
   The old center survived the Second World War almost entirely, though some parts of the city were lost, especially the area around the railway station, in the northern part of the city center, known as the Nieuwstad (English: New City). The city center includes many monumental buildings dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries. There are also remains of the old town walls in several places.
   Today, Zutphen is a modern small city. The urban area, which includes the town of Warnsveld, has about 51,000 inhabitants. Stores are opened from 9:30 to 18:00 (6 PM) on weekdays, on Friday evening until 21:00 (9 PM) and on Saturday until 17:00 (5 PM). Some stores open earlier, and the larger supermarkets usually stay open until 20:00 (8 PM).

Regional center

Juridical center

Zutphen houses a major court, the national training center for judges and public prosecutors (SSR), the national police academy for senior police investigators, three prisons and a large number of lawyers. It is a highly important national and international juridical center. Zutphen is older than most major Dutch cities, such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. This explains its important position in the juridical system. Besides the courts it houses also prisons: a normal prison and the Sprengen for boys. There are several buildings: new institutions replacing the old facilities, but the old prisons remained open after completion of the new facilities. In 2007 it was decided that the old prison called Lunette doesn't meet today's standards and has to close as of 1st januari 2008

Medical center

Located in Zutphen is the "Spittaal" location of the Gelre Ziekenhuizen (Gelre Hospitals) group. This is a regular hospital offering all common specialties (no cardio-thoracic or neurosurgery) and a 24/7 emergency department. It is located in the southeastern part of the city, in the district of Leesten. A new hospital is due to be built soon to replace the old building, which dates to the 1970s. The new hospital will be built adjacent to the old one and is due to be completed in 2009.
A sizable number of practitioners of alternative medicine are located in Zutphen.

Educational center

Zutphen is home to several well-known schools for secondary education on all levels. These include the "Stedelijk Dalton College", "Baudartius College", "Vrije School de Berkel", "Vrije School de IJssel", and "Isendoorn Lyceum" (located in Warnsveld). Students from a wide area around Zutphen learn at these schools.

Population centers

Twin towns

Satu Mare, Romania

Tartu, Estonia

Shrewsbury, United Kingdom

Villa Sandino, Nicaragua

Horstmar, Germany Delegations including the mayors of the cities visit each other, and developmental aid programs are in place with Satu Mare, Tartu and Villa Sandino.

Transportation

Rail

Zutphen is an important regional railway center. Twelve trains leave the station in five directions every hour: Apeldoorn, Deventer, Hengelo, Winterswijk and Arnhem. There are direct train connections with Ede-Wageningen, Zwolle and Nijmegen. By changing once, there are connections to almost all major cities throughout the country, such as Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Groningen. According to the old railway routes Zutphen was the end station of the main wesr-east track Amsterdam - Schiphol and along mainroutes Arnhem-Leeuwarden (in Arnhem connecting to Arnhem-Vlissingen (Flushing) as main SW-NE line.These original lines were owned and operated by several companies. In the early 20th century all railways were nationalized and all trains operated by the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) (Dutch Railways). The past years the railsystem was partly pribatized. All main rotes, the core network including intercity links (fast train service only stopping at the larger stations) are solely operated by the privatiized NS (but still 100% state owned). Some local lines besides the mentioned core network are now operated by other operators like Arriva, Connexxion and Syntus. The local lines to Winterswijk and Hengelo are operated by Syntus. The local stop-train service to Apeldoorn is run by a special subsidirary of the NS woth special agreements to streamline changing from/to rehional bus linke.. All these secpmdary lines run diesel trains. The main links ftom Zwolle - Deventer towards Arnhem and Ede-Wagenigen is operated by the NS and is elctrified. Although the trains on the routes are operated by several companies, all the tracks and the management of these tracks and granting usage to the operaters (including the several freight operators) are owned by and is the responsibility of RailNed. The mainroutes have all changed, but the old 'track naming and numbering system shows some links with the past. So has the former route Amsterdam-Zutphen now terminating at Groningen and Leeuwarden. And the former Arnhem - Leeuwarden is now Ede-Wageningen-Atnhem-Zutphen-Zwille, where it offers transfers to the main-routes to Groningen and Leeuwarden. The old station building (1863) with grand upgrades in 1875 was almost destoyed during WWII. In the early 1950s a modern new station was erected, as a typical sober post-war building with lots of concrete as main material.
In 2006-2007 the station surrounding got a restyling including an underground manned and secured -but still free of charge- bycicle storage cellar.
In October 2007 the station building was designated as a State Monument

Road

Zutphen lies 10 kilometers south of the A1 highway, passing Deventer. Main roads are the N348 (Arnhem - Zutphen - Deventer - Ommen), N314 (Zutphen - Doetinchem), N319 (Zutphen - Vorden - Winterswijk), N345 (Zutphen - Lochem - Hengelo), N826 (Zutphen - Almen - Laren).

People from Zutphen

Gerard Zerbolt of Zutphen (1367-1398), mystical writer

Jan Brandts Buys (1868-1933), composer

Lambertus Doedes (1878-1955), sailor

Jo Spier (1900-1978), illustrator

Robert van Gulik (1910-1967), orientalist, diplomat, and writerFurther Information

Get more info on 'Zutphen'.

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