Apeldoorn

Apenheul ape zoo, male Bonobo

The oldest known reference to Apeldoorn, then called Appoldro, dates from the 8th century. The settlement came into being at the point where the old road from Amersfoort to Deventer crossed that from Arnhem to Zwolle. A 1740 map refers to it as Appeldoorn.[5]

Close by is the favourite country-seat of the royal family of the Netherlands called the palace het Nieuwe Loo (now Het Loo). It was originally a hunting lodge of the dukes of Gelderland, but in its present form dates chiefly from the time of the then Stadtholder William III of England (1685–1686).[5][6] The younger sister of Princess Beatrix, Princess Margriet, lives nearby the palace Het Loo, with her husband Pieter van Vollenhoven.

Apeldoorn was a relatively insignificant place until the major building projects of the 19th century and those of the period following World War II.[5] The Protestant church was restored after a fire in 1890.[6] The Roman Catholic Mariakerk is a national monument.

Apeldoorn possesses large paper-mills, many offices (Centraal Beheer, an insurance company; the Dutch Tax services; the "Kadaster", the government land registry service; and some more), a hospital and nursing homes. With over 95,000 people working in the municipality, Apeldoorn is one of the most important employment centres in the eastern Netherlands. Apeldoorn also has several important educational institutes, such as the Saxion University of Applied Sciences (hotel and facility management), the Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands Police Academy and the Theological University of Apeldoorn.

Apeldoorn is ideally located for logistical and distribution companies because of its location. Next to Apeldoorn is an intersection of two main motorways in the Netherlands. There is the A1, which goes from Amsterdam in the West, to the German border, where it takes you towards Hannover, and Berlin. Then also have the A50, which takes you from the North of the country to the South.

In 2008 the largest paper mill of what was left of "Van Gelder Papier" after reorganizations went bankrupt, in 1996 a devastating fire destroyed the remnants of the last part of the original factory, other parts of the production facility that remained are now in use as production facility by AFP (Apeldoorn Flexible Packaging B.V.), Loparex B.V. and Owens Corning Veil Netherlands B.V. On the entire industrial estate now known as "Van Gelder Park" are now also located a local head office of Rabobank and it also houses the main police and fire department offices among with some other local companies like Futurumshop sporting goods, Akos engineering, Monuta funeral services and Werklust load lifters, On the west side of this estate at the Laan van Westenenk there are still the buildings of one of the largest news printing companies of the region, Wegener, moved to this location in 1993, but they closed definitely in 2016 after reorganization, the buildings are now in use by other companies. Apeldoorn has been well known in the past as a town of paper making and clothing wash company's because of the clean filtered groundwater that seeps through the sand of the ice age formed (in Dutch)”stuwwallen” down to the “Ijselvallei” on the east of Apeldoorn.

Apeldoorn has also now a considerable meat processing industry with production and storage facilities of among others; Vion, Van Drie Group (ESA, Ekro), Grolleman Groep (cold stores, transport and meat processing), Amsterdam Meat Company (Ameco), other big/larger companies or ones that are of local importance are, among others; Hanos international (horesca), Hamer B.V. (installation), HSL Locistics but this will be as of January 2018 merged with GVT Logistics, HCA Holland Colours (industrial plastics coloring), Remeha (heating boilers), Royal Reesink N.V. (Royal Reesink is now reorganised, spring/autumn 2020) , the former distribution center is now used as a distribution center of Picnic, an internet grocery home delivery service center, although Royal Reesink is still using the office parts of the building. (Continuing),UPS, DHL, FedEx, Royal Talens (artist materials manufacturers and suppliers), VDL Weweler (international bus and truck parts manufacturing company), I.T.S. B.V., Beekman transport, Kisjes transport and container rental, CoolBlue webshop distribution centre, Wasco sanitair groothandel, Vremac Cylinders B.V. Saab technologies B.V. (others maybe added later).

In August 2018 PostNL opened a large package sorting center at the Oude Apeldoornseweg, newly build at the industrial area now known as “FizzionParc” but once was known as an industrial estate of Philips Data Systems, the new PostNL location will provide work for around 400 employees.

On November 27, 2018, a rapid spreading fire completely destroyed the largest store of “Karwei” DIY centers in The Netherlands, located at the Laan van de Dierenriem in Apeldoorn, no one was injured, as of 2020 the location was rebuilt and reopened, a part of the new building if now up for rent for another business.

Apeldoorn is also known for its (historical) large number of used car dealers. Further, Apeldoorn is a hot-spot in the region for eating out. There are a large number of restaurants in Apeldoorn, offering cuisines from the whole world. There are also three McDonalds reataurants, a Burger King, and a KFC. Many other bars and restaurants can be found on the northern part of the mainstreet (Hoofdstraat) in the entertainment center/district known as “Caterplein”. (But when writing this in November 2020, there is a Covid-19 lockdown in affect so everything is still closed until further notice, food take-away only).

Apeldoorn had until a few years ago a production facility that produced basic materials for medicine production operated by Akzo Diosynth, but production was seized here, and the terrain located at the Vlijtseweg is now renamed after the product that was produced here before that, Zwitsal, it is now known as “Zwitsal Apeldoorn” and the former facility now houses many new local businesses such as the beer brewery “De Vlijt”.

Apenheul is a zoo which hosts a number of different types of apes and monkeys, some of which are free to walk around the visitors. It is situated at the western edge of Apeldoorn and can easily be reached by local bus 2, 3 and 5 (see Apeldoorn railway station, Bus Services). There is also an amusement park situated in Apeldoorn, called the Koningin Juliana Toren (Queen Juliana Tower). It is situated nearby the Apenheul and lies on the road to Hoog Soeren. It is called the Koningin Juliana Toren because of the tower, which was built in 1910 and was later named after Queen Juliana.

The local hospital is the Gelre Hospital "Lukas", offering secondary health care to Apeldoorn and the surrounding towns.

Apeldoorn railway station is, among regular national and international services, the terminus for the Veluwse Stoomtrein Maatschappij, a preserved steam railway that runs to Dieren via Beekbergen.

In April 2009 Apeldoorn made world news, when eight people were killed after a man tried to attack the Dutch royal family during a Queen's Day celebration by crashing his car near the royal family's bus.

The southwestern corner of the municipality is part of the Hoge Veluwe National Park. It is the final Battle Honour of The Royal Canadian Regiment who took part in the town's liberation in World War II.

Paleis Het Loo, spring 2012

Paleis Het Loo reflects the historical ties between the House of Orange-Nassau and the Netherlands. The central part of the palace and the lateral pavilions show how the palace was inhabited by the House of Orange for three centuries starting with the King Stadtholder William III of England up to and including Queen Wilhelmina.

In November 1684 Prince William III of Orange, then Stadtholder of Gelderland, purchased Het Loo with the intentions of building a palatial hunting lodge somewhere on the property. On April 5, 1685, the first contract was tendered and in September of the same year the stonework of the middle section (or corps de logis) of what came to be known as Het Loo was completed. In 1686, the year given on the facade of the building, the wings, originally linked by colonnades to the corps de logis were added, the walls were built and the gardens were laid out.

Het Loo became the favorite hunting seat and country palace of William III and his wife Princess Mary II, and until his death in 1702 furnishings and decorations both inside and outside underwent repeated alterations and embellishments. At that time symmetry was considered ideal and the design for the building and grounds featured a central axis with mirror image components on either side. Inside the palace the axis consisted of the Entrance Hall, the Staircase and the Great Hall on the first floor. West and east of the Great Hall respectively were the apartments of William III and Mary II. The apartments of the courtiers and the Dining Room were on the ground floor.

In 1689 William III became King of England, Scotland and Ireland and this elevation of his position and power brought an enlargement of Het Loo in its wake. Between 1691 and 1694 the colonnades which linked the corps de logis to the wings on either side were replaced by four pavilions. These pavilions contained the new apartments of William III and Mary II, a new Dining Room, a Long Gallery and a Chapel. Queen Mary did not return to the Netherlands after 1689 and never saw the enlargement.

On the death of King William III in 1702 there was disagreement about his inheritance, but eventually, in 1732, Het Loo descended to Willem IV (1711–1751) who was, from 1747, Stadtholder of all the provinces. Both Willem IV and his son Willem V (1748–1806) used the palace in the 18th century as a summer residence.

On April 30, 2009, the Dutch national holiday Koninginnedag (Queen's Day), a man drove his car at high speed into a parade which included Queen Beatrix and other members of the Royal family.[11]

The driver hit members of the public lining the street leaving twenty-two injured and eight dead, including the driver himself, who died the following day. Although the Royal family was unharmed, it is believed to be the first attack on the Dutch royal family in modern times.[12]

• Banda Aceh, Indonesia[13]
• Burlington, Canada[14]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Apeldoorn.

• Official website (in Dutch)
• Apeldoorn travel guide from Wikivoyage