s-Hertogenbosch

Den Bosch grew around the Binnendieze, the river that ran through it, and as the town filled up people built over the water - vaults, cellars and whole houses spanning the channel - until the river ran mostly underground through the middle of the city. It became a sewer, was nearly filled in during the twentieth century, and was instead cleaned and restored from the 1970s; small open boats now run through the tunnels and under the buildings on a route of a couple of kilometres, ducking under low arches, which is the thing to do here. St John's cathedral is the largest Gothic church in the country, with a fifteenth-century exterior covered in carved figures riding the flying buttresses. Hieronymus Bosch was born and worked here around 1450-1516; none of his paintings are in the city, but the Jheronimus Bosch Art Center shows full-size reproductions of all of them.

History

The name is a contraction of des Hertogen bosch, "the duke's forest", after Henry I, Duke of Brabant, who founded a new town on forested dunes in a marsh and granted it city rights in 1185, the traditional date; the first mention in contemporary sources is from 1196. In the late 14th century a much larger wall was built, with the Dommel and Aa diverted into the moat, and until 1520 it was the second largest town in today's Netherlands after Utrecht (Wikipedia, 's-Hertogenbosch).

Highlights

• Boats under the city - the Binnendieze run through vaults and under houses.
• St John's cathedral - the largest Gothic church in the country, with figures on the buttresses.
• Bosch's town - where he was born, worked and died, though his paintings are elsewhere.
• A restored sewer - the river nearly filled in and cleaned up instead from the 1970s.

When to go

April to October. Two days.

Practical notes

Boat trips book out and stop in high water; the tunnels are low and not for the claustrophobic. No original Bosch paintings are in the city - the centre shows reproductions. Carnival in February takes over completely.

Nearby

Kasteel Heeswijk is north-east; the Loonse en Drunense Duinen are west.

Key facts