Sint-Michielsgestel

Sint-Michielsgestel (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌsɪntmiˌxilsˈxɛstəl] (listen)) is a municipality and a town in the southern part of the Netherlands. It is located directly south of 's-Hertogenbosch, the capital of North Brabant province. Its name refers to archangel St. Michael.

Sint-Michielsgestel
Municipality
Town hall of Sint-Michielsgestel
Flag
Coat of arms
Location in North Brabant
Coordinates: 51°38′N 5°21′E
CountryNetherlands
ProvinceNorth Brabant
Government
 • BodyMunicipal council
 • MayorJan Pommer (CDA)
Area
 • Total59.34 km2 (22.91 sq mi)
 • Land58.38 km2 (22.54 sq mi)
 • Water0.96 km2 (0.37 sq mi)
Elevation6 m (20 ft)
Population
 (January 2019)[4]
 • Total28,991
 • Density497/km2 (1,290/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postcode
5258, 5270–5275, 5290–5294
Area code073
Websitesint-michielsgestel.nl
Dutch Topographic map of Sint-Michielsgestel, June 2015

Population centres

Smaller townships, also part of Sint-Michielsgestel, are: Besselaar, Doornhoek, Haanwijk (nl), Hal, Halder (nl), De Bus, De Hogert, De Loofaart, Heikantse Hoeve, Hersend, Hezelaar, Hoek, Kerkeind, Laar, Maaskantje, Middelrode (nl), Nijvelaar, Plein, Poeldonk (nl), Ruimel, Tielse Hoeve, Wielsche Hoeven, Wamberg (nl) and Woud.

Contemporary Sint-Michielsgestel

Major employer in the town of Sint-Michielsgestel is Kentalis (nl), a resource center for sensory and communicative disabled people formerly known as Institute for the deaf and hearing impaired called Instituut voor Doven (nl) aka Viataal.

Most inhabitants are commuters as there is little to no industry in town.

The river Dommel, which flows from a well in Belgium to the river Maas in The Netherlands, divides the town in two parts.
Most of the villagers come here for fishing, since the river is filled with a lot of different fishes. The fish that you will see the most, is the "Driel". The present municipality Sint-Michielsgestel was founded in 1996, by merging Sint-Michielsgestel (est. 1314), Den Dungen (est. 1810) and Berlicum (est. 1238).

The complete village of Gemonde (nl), which till then partly belonged to Boxtel, was added to Sint-Michielsgestel in 1999.

History

Antiquity

Archeological finds near the township of Halder indicate that the area was already inhabited during the Roman era. Thousands of Roman coins were found in 1962 not far from Nieuw Herlaer castle. These and other local archeological finds are now on display in the Museum of Antiquities at Viataal.

Medieval times

Sint-Michielsgestel was named for the high and dry sandy land (Gestel) and the archangel St. Michael. Its name was first mentioned when the estates or heerlijkheden (nl) Herlaer and Gestel were joined in approx. 1314 AD (maybe even earlier but there is no written documentation prior to that time). The estate of Oud Herlaer had already been mentioned in 1142 AD as being the estate of Dirck, Lord of Herlaer.

The klein seminarie (nl) Beekvliet (nl) was founded in 1815 in the town of Sint-Michielsgestel.

World War II

During World War II this facility was used as prison-camp, along with the grootseminarie (nl) in Haaren. On 4 May 1942 the Germans imprisoned 460 Dutch men in Beekvliet. All prisoners were politically involved or otherwise important to the Dutch people. Luuk van Driel, father of the famous Tim and Dirk, also known as 'grote spelers', got to escape along with a group of people, by calling the police. They became local heroes after this. Amongst the prisoners were writers Simon Vestdijk and Anton van Duinkerken. Political prisoners were Wim Schermerhorn (Prime Minister 1945-1946), Willem Banning, Pieter Geyl and Jan de Quay, all post-war politicians.

After 1945

Nowadays Sint-Michielsgestel is known for Gymnasium Beekvliet, a renowned College (Dutch:zelfstandig gymnasium) with over 800 students.

Local government

The municipal council of Sint-Michielsgestel consists of 21 seats, which are divided as follows after the municipal elections of March 21 2018:[5]

  • Local Political Alliance (Plaatselijke Politieke Alliantie) - 7 seats
  • CDA - 4 seats
  • Dorpsgoed - 3 seats
  • VVD - 2 seats
  • De Gestelse Coalitie - 2 seats
  • PvdA - 1 seat
  • D66 - 1 seat
  • GroenLinks - 1 seat

At the moment, the municipal board (college van burgemeester en wethouders) is formed by the Local Political Alliance, CDA and VVD.

Notable people
Gerrit Braks, 1984

Sport
  • Sint Michielsgestel, river: de Dommel
  • Dommel-bij-Gemonde
  • Berlicum, church
  • Berlicum, modern art on the street
  • Den Dungen, church

References
  1. "Samenstelling College van B en W" [Members board of mayor and aldermen] (in Dutch). Gemeente Sint-Michielsgestel. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  2. "Kerncijfers wijken en buurten 2020" [Key figures for neighbourhoods 2020]. StatLine (in Dutch). CBS. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  3. "Postcodetool for 5271GC". Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland (in Dutch). Het Waterschapshuis. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  4. "Bevolkingsontwikkeling; regio per maand" [Population growth; regions per month]. CBS Statline (in Dutch). CBS. 1 January 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  5. https://allecijfers.nl/verkiezingsuitslagen/sint-michielsgestel/
  6. IMDb Database retrieved 30 March 2020
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