Assen () is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the Northeastern

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, and is the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

of the province of

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Jan ...

. It received

city rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

in 1809. Assen is known for

TT Circuit Assen The TT Circuit Assen is a motorsport race track built in 1955 and located in Assen, Netherlands. Host of the Dutch TT, it is popularly referred to as "The Cathedral of Speed" by motorcycle racing fans. The venue has the distinction of holding th ...

, the

motorcycle racing The motorcycle sport of racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) includes motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Other categories include hill climbs, drag racing and ...

circuit, where on the last Sunday in June the

Dutch TT The Dutch Tourist Trophy, also known as the ''TT Assen'', and also sometimes known as the Dutch Motorcycle Grand Prix, is an annual Dutch motorsport event established in 1925 for road racing motorcycles held on the TT Circuit Assen, also known ...

is run; and also for the annual Assen Dance Festival.

Population centres

Anreep Anreep is a hamlet in the Netherlands and is part of the Assen municipality in Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the ...

, Assen, De Haar,

Graswijk Graswijk is a hamlet in the Netherlands and is part of the Assen municipality in Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to th ...

Loon Loons (North American English) or divers (British English, British / Irish English) are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus ''Gavia'', family (biolog ...

, Rhee,

Schieven Schieven is a hamlet in the Netherlands and is part of the Assen municipality in Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to th ...

Ter Aard Ter Aard is a hamlet in the Netherlands and is part of the Assen municipality in Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to th ...

Ubbena Ubbena is a hamlet in the Netherlands, and is part of the Assen municipality in Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the ...

Witten Witten () is a city with almost 100,000 inhabitants in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis (district) in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. Geography Witten is situated in the Ruhr valley, in the southern Ruhr area. Bordering municipalities * Bochum ...

, Zeijerveen, and Zeijerveld.

History

The history of the capital of

can be traced back to at least 1258, when a new location had to be found for

Marienkamp Abbey Marienkamp Abbey (; ) was a Cistercian nunnery in the present province of Drenthe in the Netherlands. History The abbey was founded in 1215 in Coevorden, later moved to Deurze near Rolde, accepted by the Cistercians in 1246, and moved again, to ...

, which had originally been built near

Coevorden Coevorden (; ; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Drenthe, in the east of Netherlands, the Netherlands. During the ...

as a penalty for the slaughter in 1227 of the army of the Bishop of

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

at the hands of Drenthe's peasants, in what has come to be known as the

Battle of Ane The Battle of Ane (Dutch Low Saxon:''Slag bi'j Aone'', Dutch:''Slag bij Ane''), was fought in 1227 between Otto II of Lippe, Bishop of Utrecht, and Rudolf II van Coevorden with his army of Drenths. The account of the battle comes from '' Qued ...

– a battle, incidentally, in which the bishop was killed. His successor ordered the nunnery to be built as a penalty. As it was located in a barren

peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

area, which also happened to flood from time to time, a better location had to be found. A better and especially drier spot for the

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

abbey was found in an area known as

, where at the time only a few farms were located. Around it was village communities like

Deurze Deurze is a village in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is a part of the municipality of Aa en Hunze, and lies about 4 km southeast of Assen. History The village was first mentioned in 1259 as "curtem Durse". The etymology is unclear. In ...

and Peelo. The latter has a history which goes back to the times when

Dolmens A dolmen, () or portal tomb, is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period (40003000 BCE) and w ...

were built, but it is now situated between two new districts of Assen. The "relocated" abbey probably was erected in the 1260s, and over the centuries Assen developed around it.

Abbey

The abbey was built at what now is the Brink (i.e., the grassy area which serves as a symbolic municipal centre) of Assen. On the abbey site now stands the

Drents Museum The Drents Museum () is an art and history museum in Assen, Drenthe, the Netherlands. Opened in 1854, it has a collection of prehistoric artifacts, applied art and visual art, as well as temporary exhibitions. In 2023, it had 179,345 visitors. ...

, which was built in 1882 as ''provinciehuis'' (i.e., the residence of the provincial government). Only the ''abdijkerk'' (abbey church), the grounds, and bits and pieces of walls remind us of the religious beginnings of the city.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms is directly borrowed from the seal of the abbey. It is just like the coat of arms of the province of

- in both cases

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

with child - but Jesus switches to the other knee. The history of the city is connected with the provincial governing board: around 1600, the abbey property was secularised. Marienkamp no longer existed, but the buildings did. Because of the central position of Assen and the fact that the government from what was then called ''de Landschap

'' (the Landscape

) was searching for a location for the government and civil servants, Assen became the seat for, and thus practically also the capital of

''Drents Haagje''

Assen was not a municipality yet, not even ecclesiastical sense. Even though there was an

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

church, Assen fell ecclesiastically and administratively under

Rolde Rolde () is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Drenthe. Located in the Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Aa en Hunze, it lies about 6 km (3.7 mi) east of Assen. In 2021, Rolde h ...

. In 1615 Assen got its preacher. In 1807 Assen administratively freed itself from the control of Rolde when the village got to establish its own municipal authorities. A municipal authority which, moreover, in most cases, operated in the shadow of the provincial government, which always manifested itself prominently in the ''Drentse Haagje''. The municipal authority mainly got there because of provincial governors like Governor Petrus Hofstede, to which the city also thanks its uniquely located park (in the center of the city). From that time, Assen also obtained its nickname ''het Herenbolwerk''.

City rights

Assen has been an official city since 1809. After

, then a village of about sixteen hundred people, Assen became the second place in

with

, granted by King Louis Napoleon, who had big plans for the village. A plan to make it a city was set up at the time, but the Kingdom of the Netherlands was incorporated into

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's French Empire, and the plans were abandoned. As an administrative centre, Assen attracted well-to-do

inhabitants In law and conflict of laws, domicile is relevant to an individual's "personal law", which includes the law that governs a person's status and their property. It is independent of a person's nationality. Although a domicile may change from time ...

and new enterprises and initiatives. These contributed to a slow but steady increase of commerce, wealth and new establishments; such a newspaper in 1823, a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

school in 1825, a postal service on

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

in 1830, a court in 1840, a first beginning for a

garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...

in 1852 and a railway station in 1870. Another major achievement was the canal Drentse Hoofdvaart, which was used to transport peat and other goods; the Noord-Willemskanaal was opened in 1861. The most important monuments of the city are from the nineteenth century.

Industry

Around 1900 Assen began to play a more prominent industrial role. It was originally a centre of civil servants, but the establishment of a slaughterhouse, dairy factory and iron foundry created more diverse expansion opportunities and encouraged growth. Around 1930, by establishing various psychiatric hospitals and healthcare centres, Assen became a central point for health care in the province.

Growth

After the Second World War, Assen did not have more than 20,000 inhabitants. The Assen TT made the city more widely known, but it was not until the 1950s, with the development of an industrial core, did Assen begin to grow more quickly. The Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (Dutch Oil Company) established itself in the city, and with that, a trend was set. Now, Assen is known not only because of its TT,

Bartje Bartje Bartels is the main character in a series of Dutch books written by Anne de Vries from 1935 on. Bartje is a boy who lives with his poor family in the countryside of Drenthe. His parents want him to become a farmer like his father, but Bar ...

and the ''Drentse Rijwielvierdaagse''. It also is the fastest-growing city in the northern part of the Netherlands, with ample employment opportunities, particularly in the

service industry The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the s ...

.The city's unprecedented growth in houses and inhabitants is taking place, with environmental issues becoming more urgent. The

Assen railway station Assen (; abbreviation: Asn) is a railway station located in Assen, Netherlands. The station was opened on 1 May 1870 and is located on the Meppel–Groningen railway. The station is operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen. A new station building was o ...

connects the city to the rest of the country. Assen's city centre is closed to through motor traffic (except emergency vehicles), it has an extensive network of off-road cycle paths, and 41% of all journeys in Assen are by bicycle. The city has progressively become more cycle friendly since the 1960s.

Tourism, culture and sport

Tourist Trophy

The

is one of the most famous

circuits in the world and is the only circuit that has been in the

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the highest class of motorcycle road racing events held on Road racing, road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held sin ...

calendar since its beginnings in 1949. It is also regarded as the "Cathedral of Motorcycle Racing."

Drents Museum

The

provides a view of the world and of Drenthe, with stories about archaeology, art and history.

The Yde Girl

Before her execution, one half of this girl's head was shaved. She was only sixteen, about 140 cm tall and she had blond hair. Around the beginning of the Common Era, this adolescent was strangled with a woolen band which the executioner had wrapped around her neck three times. Possibly, she was also stabbed in the neck near the left collarbone. She rested in the peat bog near the village of Yde for almost two thousand years, until two workers discovered her in May 1897 - and then ran away in fright. Days later most of her body parts and fragments of a cloak were dredged up from the peat. Unfortunately, the villagers had also heard about this find. They had secretly removed nearly all her teeth and tore off most of her hair.

Dance

In November of each year Assen becomes the centre of international attention for the world of Ballroom and Latin American dancers when the city hosts the Assen Dance Festival which includes the Dutch Open Championships. This is an open event for dancers from all countries.

Cycling

Assen is also the capital of the "cycling province" of the Netherlands,

. There are many high quality cycle paths in the city and surroundings and it is host to regular cycling events such as the Drentse

fietsvierdaagse The fietsvierdaagse ("cycling four-day") is a Dutch bicycle event. The event consists of four days of recreational cycling. Mainly during spring and summer, several ''fietsvierdaagsen'' are organised throughout the Netherlands. The ''fietsvierdaags ...

and the Jeugdtour. In 2009 the prologue and opening stage of the

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; ) is an annual stage race, multi-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Ital ...

took place in Assen. The city has twice hosted the

International Six Days Enduro The International Six Days Enduro (ISDE), formerly known as the International Six Days Trial (ISDT), is the oldest 'off-road' motorcycle event on the FIM Calendar. The ISDT was first held in 1913 at Carlisle, England. It has occurred annually, a ...

Association football

Asser Christelijke Voetbalvereniging The Asser Christelijke Voetbalvereniging, known as ACV, is a association football, football club based in the town of Assen, Netherlands, that competes in the Tweede Divisie, the third tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1939, t ...

was founded in 1939 and is one of the most successful amateur clubs in Dutch football.

Education

The city of Assen is home to the Dutch secondary vocational education (MBO) of Drenthe College. Some of the programmes offered by this vocational school are "Car technician", "First Car Engineer" and "First motorcycle technician", all due to the strong connections between DC and the TT Circuit Assen. About 8,000 students work across the three faculties in the city of Assen, as well as few others in

Meppel Meppel (; Drents: ''Möppelt'') is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It constitutes the southwestern part of the province of Drenthe. Meppel is the smallest municipality in Drenthe, with a total area of about . As of 1 July ...

and Emmen. Assen also hosts one faculty of the

Hanze University of Applied Sciences Hanze University of Applied Sciences (abbreviated as: ''Hanze UAS''; ) is the largest University of Applied Sciences in northern Netherlands and located in Groningen. Hanze UAS offers various Bachelor and Master programmes in Dutch, English, a ...

, more specifically the

Hanze Institute of Technology The Institute of Engineering Assen is part of the Hanze University Groningen in the Netherlands. The institute is based in Assen where it offers a Bachelor Programme in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and a Master Programme in Sensor System ...

. About 100 university students are located here, some from the Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and some from the Master Course of Smart Systems Engineering. The difference between the two institutions is that the former is only given in Dutch and is more "work in the field" orientated. Meanwhile, the latter is an international university of AS that provides Bachelors's and Masters's studies in English (see

education in the Netherlands Education in the Netherlands is characterized by division: education is oriented toward the needs and background of the pupil. Education is divided over schools for different age groups, some of which are divided in streams for different educatio ...

International relations

Assen is twinned with: *

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

, Poland

Notable people born in Assen

Johannes Alberti Johannes Alberti (March 6, 1698, in Assen – 13 August 1762, in Leiden) was a Dutch theologian. Early life Alberti was the son of a flour miller. He did not regularly attend school due to the distance between his parents' house and the local ...

(1698 in Assen – 1762) a theologian * Hendrik Jan Smidt (1831 in Assen – 1917) Governor-General of Suriname 1885 to 1888 *

Tettje Clay-Jolles Tettje Clay-Jolles (1881–1972) was one of the first female Dutch physicists. She studied the variation of atmospheric radiation with geographic latitude. Early life Clay-Jolles was born in 1881 in Assen, Netherlands to Eva Dina Halbertsma and ...

(1881 in Assen – 1972) one of the first female Dutch physicists * Jo van de Kieft (1884 – 1970 in Assen) a politician and businessman *

Jan Donner Jan Donner (3 February 1891 – 2 February 1981) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and jurist. He was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 16 ...

(1891 in Assen – 1981) a politician * Johannes Linthorst Homan (1903 in Assen – 1986) a politician and diplomat *

Anne de Vries Anne de Vries (22 May 1904 – 29 November 1964) was a Dutch teacher and writer, particularly famous in the Netherlands for his novels of regional life. Born in the village of Kloosterveen near Assen, de Vries married Alida Gerdina van Wermeske ...

(1904 in Kloosterveen – 1964) a teacher and author *

Henk Feldmeijer Johannes Hendrik Feldmeijer (30 November 1910 – 22 February 1945) was a Dutch Nazism, Nazi politician and a member of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands, NSB. He was the commander of the ''Sonderkommando-Feldmeijer'' death squa ...

(1910 in Assen – 1945) a Dutch Nazi * Jacob Staal (1913 in Assen - 1981) a commando during World War II * Wim Franken (1922 in Assen – 2012) a composer, pianist and

carillonneur A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a musical keyboard, keyboard and consists of at least 23 bells. The bells are Bellfounding, cast in Bell metal, bronze, hung in fixed suspension, and Musical tuning, tu ...

Dick Rienstra Dick Rienstra (1941 – 2021) was a Dutch singer and actor. Rienstra began his musical career in a local group, The Double S Combo, where he sang and played guitar, clarinet, and saxophone. In 1960 he debuted on the radio in a KRO program, and in ...

(1941 in Assen) a singer and actorIMDb Database
retrieved 11 October 2019 *

Relus ter Beek Aurelus Louis "Relus" ter Beek (18 January 1944 – 29 September 2008) was a Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA). He served as a Member of the House of Representatives from 11 May 1971 until 7 November 1989 when he became Minister of ...

(1944 in Coevorden – 2008) a politician *

Erik Ziengs Erik Ziengs (born 27 September 1960 in Hoogersmilde) is a Dutch politician and former entrepreneur. As a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( , VVD) is a Conservative liberali ...

(born 1960 in Hoogersmilde) a politician and businessman *

John-Paul Langbroek John-Paul Honoré Langbroek is an Australian politician who has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland representing the centre-right Liberal Party and its successor, the right-wing Liberal National Party, in the seat of Surfers ...

(born 1961 in Assen) an Australian politician * Juul Kraijer (born 1970 in Assen) a visual artist who uses drawing and photography

Sport

* Johan Bontekoe (1943 in Assen– 2006) a freestyle swimmer, competed in the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

Klenie Bimolt Klena ("Klenie") Geertje Bimolt (born 8 June 1945 in Assen, Drenthe) is a former breaststroke swimmer from the Netherlands, who won the silver medal in the 4 × 100 medley relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics. She did so together with her team mates ...

(born 1945 in Assen) a former breaststroke swimmer, silver medallist at the

* Egbert Streuer (born 1954 in Assen) a former professional sidecar driver * Harry Sinkgraven (born 1966) a football coach and former footballer with 334 club caps *

Peter Hoekstra Cornelis Piet Hoekstra (; born October 30, 1953) is a Dutch-American politician who is serving as List of ambassadors of the United States to Canada, Ambassador to Canada. Hoekstra had served as the United States Ambassador to the Netherlands fr ...

(born 1973 in Assen) retired footballer with 273 club caps *

Bas Roorda Bas Roorda (born 13 February 1973) is a Dutch former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Since 2020, he has worked as team manager for PSV Eindhoven, PSV. Playing career Ro ...

(born 1973 in Assen) a football player with 280 club caps * Timothy Beck (born 1977 in Assen) a sprinter and bobsledder, competed in the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

and in the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

Sergio van Dijk Serginho "Sergio" van Dijk or bibik (born 6 August 1982) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was the top goal scorer in the 2010–11 A-League regular season and made a name for himself in Australian football for his ...

(born 1982 in Assen) a Dutch-Indonesian football player, over 330 club caps *

Marc de Maar Marc de Maar (born 15 February 1984) is a Curaçaoan former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2006 and 2018. Biography Amateur career At the age of 14, de Maar was ice skating in the winter and cycling in the s ...

(born 1984 in Assen) professional cyclist, Quick-Step *

Boy Westerhof Boy Westerhof (born 25 October 1985) is a Dutch professional tennis player and competes mainly on the ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures, both in singles and doubles. Westerhof reached his highest ATP singles ranking, No. 201 on 27 August 2012, ...

(born 1985 in Assen) a professional tennis player *

Inge Dekker Inge Dekker (born 18 August 1985) is a Dutch former competitive swimmer who specialised in butterfly and freestyle events. She won the bronze medal with the Dutch women's 4×100-metre freestyle relay team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, ...

(born 1985 in Assen) a former butterfly and freestyle swimmer, bronze medallist at the

Brian Kamstra Brian Kamstra (born 5 July 1993) is a retired Dutch professional cyclist, who raced for UCI ProTeam . He lives in Rijeka, Croatia. Kamstra is currently a trail runner. Career Athletics Kamstra was a 2-times National Champion in cross country ru ...

(born 1993 in Assen) a professional cyclist,

Team Novo Nordisk Team Novo Nordisk () is an all-diabetic professional cycling team founded by CEO Phil Southerland and led by general manager Vassili Davidenko. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The team's principal sponsor is the Danish global healthcar ...

* Maike van der Duin (born 2001 in Assen) a professional cyclist, Le Col–Wahoo

References

External links

* *
Official website

TT Circuit Assen
{{Authority control Cities in the Netherlands Municipalities of Drenthe Populated places in Drenthe Populated places established in the 13th century Provincial capitals of the Netherlands 13th-century establishments in Europe