Roermond

Roermond has been a bishop's seat since 1559 and its landmark is older: the Munsterkerk, built around 1220 as the church of a Cistercian abbey, a late Romanesque building on a Greek cross plan with a trefoil east end and two western towers, holding the tomb of Gerard III of Guelders and his wife Margaretha, a thirteenth-century double effigy of high quality. Pierre Cuypers was born in Roermond in 1827, ran his workshop here, and rebuilt the Munsterkerk in the 1860s in a manner that added a good deal - his own house and studio survive, and he is buried in the town. He went on to build the Rijksmuseum and Amsterdam Centraal, so a great deal of what looks characteristically Dutch nineteenth-century came out of this workshop. The town also has a very large designer outlet on the edge, which brings most of its current visitors.

History

The Romans built a bridge over the Roer here, the Steene Brök, and founded the first town. Roermond received town rights in 1231, belonged to the Duchy of Guelders from around 1180 to 1543 and around 1350 became the capital of its Upper Quarter; it joined the Hanseatic League in 1441, had the right to mint its own coins by 1472, and has been the seat of a Roman Catholic diocese since 1559 (Wikipedia, Roermond).

The main sights

• The Munsterkerk of about 1220 - late Romanesque on a Greek cross plan with a trefoil end.
• A thirteenth-century double tomb - Gerard III and Margaretha of Guelders.
• Cuypers's town - born, worked and buried here, with his house and studio surviving.
• A designer outlet - the large retail centre that draws most current visitors.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Things to know

Churches close during services and keep limited visiting hours. The outlet centre dominates the town's traffic at weekends. Cuypers's nineteenth-century additions to the Munsterkerk are substantial.

Nearby

The Maasplassen are around the town; De Meinweg is east.

Key facts