Oog in Al (, Utrecht dialect: ) is a residential area in the west of the city of

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The

Amsterdam–Rhine Canal The Amsterdam–Rhine Canal ( Dutch: ''Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal'') is a canal in the Netherlands that was built to connect the port and capital city of Amsterdam to the main shipping artery of the Rhine. Its course follows a generally southeasterly di ...

, the

Merwede Canal The Merwede () etymology uncertain, possibly derived from the ancient Dutch ''Merwe'' or ''Merowe'', a word meaning "wide water") is the name of several connected stretches of river in the Netherlands, between the cities of Woudrichem, Dordrecht a ...

and the

Leidse Rijn The Leidse Rijn (Dutch for "Leiden's Rhine") is a canal in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands. It was dug since the Middle Ages when the meandering old Rhine course silted up. The Leidse Rijn has a length of 13 km. Towns along the Leidse Rijn ...

canal form the area's limits, rendering it a man-made island in the shape of a triangle. From the 12th century, the area of present-day Oog in Al was part of the 'Trechter Weide', the communal meadow of the city of Utrecht. The meadow was divided in the 'Hoge Weide' and 'Lage Weide' (''high meadow'' and ''low meadow''), divided by a canal, the Vletsloot. Oog in Al was later built in the 'Hoge Weide' part of the communal meadow. The Leidse Rijn was dug in 1663–1664 as a water transport link between Utrecht and

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...

. The Utrecht nobleman Everard Meyster built a residential estate in a curve of the new canal, where a new city expansion planned by mayor Hendrik Moreelse, could best be viewed. For this reason Meyster called his estate "Oog in Al" (''Eye on All''). When the Merwede Canal was dug at the end of the 19th century, the area surrounding the estate underwent a radical change. As the Canal could only be crossed by way of a limited number of bridges, it constituted a barrier to further city expansion in the Oog in Al area. The City of Utrecht nevertheless purchased the ground in 1918 with a view to the development of a new residential area. The architects

Berlage Hendrik Petrus Berlage (21 February 1856 – 12 August 1934) was a Dutch architect. He is considered one of the fathers of the architecture of the Amsterdam School. Life and work Hendrik Petrus Berlage, son of Nicolaas Willem Berlage and A ...

and Holsboer designed the layout of Utrecht's western expansion, which included plans for the residential area Oog in Al. Adjacent to the present-day Park Oog in Al, a first batch of 381 spacious middle-class homes was constructed in 1921. Meyster's estate was preserved and currently houses the area's public library. The street pattern of the south eastern part of present-day Oog in Al reflects the original design of Berlage and Holsboer. The Robert Schumannstraat, in the oldest part of the area, boasts a row of terraced houses designed by

Gerrit Rietveld Gerrit Rietveld (24 June 1888 – 25 June 1964) was a Dutch furniture designer and architect. Early life Rietveld was born in Utrecht on 24 June 1888 as the son of a joiner. He left school at 11 to be apprenticed to his father and enrolled at n ...

Famous inhabitants

*The football player Marco van Basten *Olympic

speed skating Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skatin ...

champion

Jochem Uytdehaage Jochem Simon Uytdehaage (born 9 July 1976) is a Dutch former long track speed skater who won two Olympic gold medals in Salt Lake City and was the 2002 World Allround champion. He retired in 2007 at the age of 30, following two consecutive seas ...

. *Author Geert van Istendael spent part of his childhood in the area. *Publisher Willem Anton Hart was born here in 1946 *Mathematician and mathematics educator

Hans Freudenthal Hans Freudenthal (17 September 1905 – 13 October 1990) was a Jewish-German-born Dutch mathematician. He made substantial contributions to algebraic topology and also took an interest in literature, philosophy, history and mathematics education ...

lived in this area and died on a bench in the parc Oog in Al in 1990. * Dafne Schippers *Politician and gay rights activist

Boris Dittrich Boris Ottokar Dittrich (; born 21 July 1955) is a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 (D66) party, jurist, author and human rights activist. He is a Member of the Senate since 11 June 2019. Dittrich's father came to the Netherlands as a polit ...

spent his childhood in Oog in Al.

External links

Wijk Oog in Al
{{Utrecht-geo-stub Districts in Utrecht (city)