Zeist () 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 ...

and largest

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

of the municipality of Zeist. The town is located in the Utrecht province of the

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 ...

, east of the city 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 ...

History

The town of "Seist" was first mentioned in a charter in the year 838. The original settlement was located at the present ''Dorpsstraat''. In the late 12th century, a church was built here. Its tower is now a part of the Reformed Church, the remainder of which was built in the 19th century. Until medieval times, a branch of the river

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

flowed close to the centre of the town. Three mansions were built near the village: the ''Huis te Zeist'', Kersbergen, and Blikkenburg. From 1677 to 1686, the "Slot Zeist" was built on or near the ruins of "Kasteel Zeist", the original castle (donjon) of Rodgar van Zeist. There is very little documentation on the family that lived there, but a few names are found: in the 12th century a ''Godefridus de Seist'' and in the late 13th century another Godefridus, a knight, with his son Johannes and his daughter Petronilla. (''Bronnen voor de geschiedenis van Zeist'', deel 1, ed. Van Hinsbergen) The last member of the van Zeist family was a woman, Elisabeth van Zeist, who married a member of the Borre van Amerongen family. They had a son who adopted his mother's name and his father's coat-of-arms. In the last quarter of the 17th century, Count Willem Adriaan van Nassau, an illegitimate descendant of Prince

Maurice of Orange Maurice of Orange (; 14 November 1567 – 23 April 1625) was ''stadtholder'' of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic except for Friesland from 1585 at the earliest until his death on 23 April 1625. Before he became Prince of Orange upon ...

, acquired the property and built Slot Zeist in the Dutch Classicist style. Murals by Daniel Marot are still largely intact. Members of the ''Evangelische Broedergemeente'' (Evangelical Brethren's Congregation), the Dutch name for the

Moravians Moravians ( or Colloquialism, colloquially , outdated ) are a West Slavs, West Slavic ethnic group from the Moravia region of the Czech Republic, who speak the Moravian dialects of Czech language, Czech or Czech language#Common Czech, Common ...

, settled in Zeist in 1746, building for their community an impressive array of 18th century Classicist houses planned around two squares. Their headquarters are still located in the centre of town, next to "the palace". The oldest Dutch archives of the Moravians are kept at the Utrecht Archival Centre at

. In the 19th century, Zeist became a favorite residence for the rich, mainly from the city of Utrecht. Camp New Amsterdam, ( vliegbasis Soesterberg) a former

Royal Netherlands Air Force The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF; , "Royal Air Force") is the military aviation branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It was created in 1953 to succeed its predecessor, the ''Luchtvaartafdeling'' () of the Dutch Army, which was founded ...

military airbase near this town, was the venue for the

Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial The Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial began on 3 May 2000, more than 11 years after the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988. The 36-week bench trial took place at a specially convened Scottish Court in the Netherlands set up under ...

to take place outside the UK, but under

Scots law Scots law () is the List of country legal systems, legal system of Scotland. It is a hybrid or mixed legal system containing Civil law (legal system), civil law and common law elements, that traces its roots to a number of different histori ...

. The court was designated the

Scottish Court in the Netherlands The Scottish court in the Netherlands was a special sitting of the High Court of Justiciary set up under Scots law in a former United States Air Force base, Camp Zeist near Utrecht, in the Netherlands, for the trial of two Libyans charged wit ...

Organisations and surroundings

Zeist is the location of the

Royal Dutch Football Association The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues ( Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch men's and w ...

(KNVB), the

Royal Dutch Korfball Association The Royal Dutch Korfball Association (Dutch: ''Koninklijk Nederlands Korfbalverbond'', or KNKV) is the governing body of korfball in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch korfball leagues (field and hall korfball),the more recreative leag ...

(KNKV) and the

International Korfball Federation The International Korfball Federation (IKF) is the governing body of korfball. IKF is responsible for the organisation of korfball's major international tournaments, notably the IKF World Korfball Championship. The IKF was founded on 11 June 1 ...

(IKF). It is also known for the

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s surrounding the town. For many years the Dutch National Archaeological Research Service (''Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek'') was housed at Slot Zeist. Triodos Bank headquarters is also based there.

Notable people

The following notable persons were born in Zeist: HendrikMarsman193X

* Guido Verbeck (1830–1898) political adviser, educator and missionary, worked as a foreign adviser in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

* Hermann Snellen (1834–1908)

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology (, ) is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of eye diseases and disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a ...

, invented the

Snellen chart A Snellen chart is an eye chart that can be used to measure visual acuity. Snellen charts are named after the Dutch ophthalmologist Herman Snellen who developed the chart in 1862 as a measurement tool for the acuity formula developed by his profe ...

* Anthon van Rappard (1858–1892) painter and draughtsman *

Willem Pijper Willem Frederik Johannes Pijper (; 8 September 189418 March 1947) was a Dutch composer, music critic and music teacher. Pijper is considered to be among the most important Dutch composers of the first half of the 20th century. Life Pijper was b ...

, (1894–1947) composer, music critic and music teacher * Hendrik Marsman, (1899–1940) poet and writer * Isaäc Arend Diepenhorst, (1916–2004) former minister of education *

Johan Witteveen Johan may refer to: * Johan (given name) * ''Johan'' (1921 film), a Swedish film directed by Mauritz Stiller * Johan (2005 film), a Dutch romantic comedy film * Johan (band), a Dutch pop-group ** ''Johan'' (album), a 1996 album by the group * Joh ...

(1921–2019) politician and MD of the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

(IMF) 1973-1978 * Carel Blotkamp (born 1945) artist, art historian, writer and critic * Wam Kat, (born 1956) political activist and author *

Mark Overmars Markus Hendrik "Mark" Overmars (; born 29 September 1958) is a Dutch computer scientist and teacher of game programming known for his game development application GameMaker. GameMaker allows users to create computer games using a drag-and-drop ...

, (born 1958) author of

GameMaker Studio GameMaker (originally Animo, Game Maker (until 2011) and GameMaker Studio) is a series of cross-platform game engines created by Mark Overmars in 1999 and developed by YoYo Games since 2007. The latest iteration of ''GameMaker'' was released ...

* Jan van de Pavert (born 1960) sculptor, painter, draftsman, animator, and video artist *

Mirjam Sterk Willemina Roziena Catharina "Mirjam" Sterk (born 23 May 1973) is a Dutch former politician, civil servant, NH editor, and educator. As a member of the Christian Democratic Appeal she was a member of the House of Representatives from 23 May 2002 ...

(born 1973) former politician, civil servant and educator

Sport

* Henk Kamerbeek (1893–1954) hammer thrower, competed at the

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

and

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

André Bolhuis Johan Henk André Bolhuis (born 4 October 1946) is a retired field hockey player from the Netherlands. He competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics, 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics and finished in fourth place in both Games. He was the List of flag bear ...

(born 1946) a retired field hockey player, competed at the

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

and

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

* Bert Blyleven, (born 1951)

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

Hall of Fame

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

Guusje van Mourik Guusje van Mourik (born 5 October 1955, Zeist, Netherlands) she is a Dutch karateka, judoka and boxer. She has a 4th Dan black belt in karate, and is the winner of multiple Karate World Championships, World Karate Championships, and is in ''T ...

(born 1955) karateka, judoka and boxer * Jos Ruijs (born 1955) rower, competed in the

* Chima Onyeike (born 1975) football coach and former professional player with 257 caps * Jeroen Rauwerdink (born 1985) volleyball player * Eva de Goede (born 1989) field hockey player, gold medalist in the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, and silver medallist at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

* Jurgen Ekkelenkamp (born 2000) football player

Transport

Zeist has two railway stations. Driebergen-Zeist railway station is located between Zeist and Driebergen-Rijsenburg, to the south of Zeist. It is on the Amsterdam–Arnhem railway. Den Dolder railway station is located in Den Dolder. It is on the Utrecht–Kampen railway and the Den Dolder–Baarn railway. Zeist also has two major bus hubs, one on the Jordanlaan and one at Handelscentrum. They have 6 and 4 lines going through respectively.

Gallery

File:Main shopping street "Slotlaan" (lane of the castle) of Zeist at 31 July 2015 - panoramio.jpg, Main shopping street, Zeist File:Jan de Baat De Zee Zeist 03.jpg, Jan de Baat De Zee Zeist File:Triodos Zeist A.jpg, Triodos Bank, Zeist File:Zeist 4469.JPG, Shops in Zeist Image:Zeist, Ma Retraite RM510262 foto8 2012-05-27 17.54.jpg, Villa Ma Retraite

References

External links

* *
Municipal website
{{Authority control Zeist Populated places in Utrecht (province) Cities in the Netherlands