Margraten

Margraten
Mergraote
Town and former municipality

Flag
Coat of arms
Coordinates: 50°49′N 5°49′E / 50.817°N 5.817°E / 50.817; 5.817
Country Netherlands
Province Limburg (Netherlands)
Municipality Eijsden-Margraten
Area(2006)
 • Total 57.70 km2 (22.28 sq mi)
 • Land 57.70 km2 (22.28 sq mi)
 • Water 0.00 km2 (0.00 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2007)
 • Total 13,522
 • Density 234/km2 (610/sq mi)
  Source: CBS, Statline.
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)

Margraten ( pronunciation ) (Limburgish: Mergraote) is a village and a former municipality in the southeastern part of the Netherlands.

On January 1, 2011, this former municipality merged with a neighbouring one, which resulted in the new Eijsden-Margraten municipality.

Preceding developments

Until 1982 the municipality with this name comprised apart from Margraten, also the hamlets Groot Welsden, Klein Welsden, Termaar and 't Rooth.

In 1982 this municipality was extended with a number of neighbouring municipalities: Cadier en Keer, Mheer, Noorbeek and Sint Geertruid. Also the village Scheulder, that until then was part of another municipality, was added.

As a result, from 1982 until 2011 the municipality of Margraten comprised the following population centres, that from 2011 on are all part of nowadays municipality of Eijsden-Margraten.

  • Ulvend
  • Wolfshuis

American Cemetery

At Margraten the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial is situated. Established in 1960, it is Europe's third largest war cemetery for unidentified soldiers who died in World War II. 8,301 soldiers are buried there under long rows of white crosses and stars of David. All graves are adopted by locals, who attend the graves and lay flowers.[1]

This cemetery is the final resting place for, among others, Lt. Colonel Robert G. Cole, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for action during the Normandy campaign in June 1944.

President George W. Bush visited the cemetery on 8 May 2005, as the first American president to do so.

Netherlands American Cemetery
One of the many typical "road crosses" in this Roman Catholic region
Margraten place
Neighbourhood 't Rooth

Persons

References

  1. ↑ Shapira, Ian (May 24, 2015). "Americans gave their lives to defeat the Nazis. The Dutch have never forgotten.". The Washington Post.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Margraten.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Margraten.

Coordinates: 50°49′N 5°49′E / 50.817°N 5.817°E / 50.817; 5.817


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.