Utrecht - City of Netherlands

Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the north-eastern end of the Randstad, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands.

Utrecht's ancient city-centre features many buildings and structures from its earliest origins onwards. It has been the religious centre of the Netherlands since the eighth century. Currently it is the see of the Archbishop of Utrecht, the most important Dutch Roman Catholic leader.Utrecht is also the see of an archbishop of the Old Catholic church, and the location of the offices of the main Protestant church. Until the golden age, Utrecht was the city of most importance in the northern Netherlands, until Amsterdam became the cultural and populous centre of the Netherlands.

Utrecht is host to Utrecht University, the largest university of the Netherlands, as well as several other institutes for higher education. Due to its central position within the country it is an important transportation hub in the Netherlands. It has the second highest number of cultural events in the Netherlands, after Amsterdam.

In the early 19th century the role of Utrecht as a fortified town became outdated. The old fortifications and the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie was moved east of Utrecht. The ramparts could now be demolished to allow for growth. The water defenses remained intact and formed an important feature of the Zocher plantsoen, an English style landscape park that remains largely intact today.

During World War II, Utrecht was held by the Germans until the general German surrender of the Netherlands on 5 May 1945. Canadian troops that surrounded the city entered it after that surrender, on May 7, 1945.

Since World War II, the city has grown considerably when new neighbourhoods such as Overvecht, Kanaleneiland, Hoograven, Lunetten, and Leidsche Rijn were built. Additionally the area surrounding the central station, and the station itself have been developed following modernist ideas of the 1960s, in a brutalist style. This led to the construction of the shopping mall Hoog Catharijne, music centre Vredenburg, and conversion of part of the ancient canal structure into a highway. Protest against further modernisation of the city centre followed even before the last buildings were finalised. In the early 21st century the whole area is being redeveloped.

Currently the city is expanding once more with the development of the Leidsche Rijn housing area.


Utrecht is well known for its institutions of higher education. The most prominent of these is Utrecht University, the largest university of The Netherlands with 26,787 students. The university is partially based in the inner city as well as in the Uithof campus area, on the east of the city. According to Shanghai Jiaotong University's university ranking in 2007 it is the 42nd best university in the world.Utrecht also houses the much smaller University of Humanistics .

There are many schools for primary and secondary education; allowing for different philosophies and religions as is inherent in the Dutch school system. There is some concern about segregation in the primary schools . This is caused by Dutch parents wanting to send their children to schools with a large proportion of other Dutch children, ending in a spiral where schools with a large proportion of immigrant children attract fewer and fewer Dutch children.

Utrecht city has an active cultural life, in the Netherlands second only to Amsterdam. Utrecht aims to become cultural capital of Europe in 2018.

There are many art galleries in Utrecht. There are also several foundations to support art, and artists. Training of artists is done at the Utrecht School of the Arts. The Centraal Museum has many exhibitions on the arts, including a permanent exhibition on the works of Utrecht resident illustrator Dick Bruna, who is best known for creating Miffy.

Utrecht is home to the premier league football club FC Utrecht, which plays in Stadium Nieuw Galgenwaard. It is also the home of Kampong, the largest sportsclub of the Netherlands, SV Kampong. Kampong features fieldhockey, soccer, cricket, tennis, squash and jeu de boules. Kampong's men and women top hockey squads play in the highest Dutch hockey league, the Rabohoofdklasse.