Bergen op Zoom: Fortified Town Where Brabant Meets Zeeland
Bergen op Zoom has about 66,300 inhabitants and sits in the western corner of North Brabant, close to the Zeeland border. The town held a strategic position for centuries, controlling a passage between the Brabant interior and the Scheldt estuary. Its fortifications were besieged multiple times during the Eighty Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession. The Markiezenhof, a late-Gothic city palace, now serves as a cultural centre and museum covering local history.
Bergen op Zoom is one of the traditional Carnival strongholds of the south, known locally as Krabbegat during the festivities. The Grote Markt and the remains of the Sint-Gertrudiskerk provide the historic core. The town also has an unusual connection to anchovies: the bergse ansjovis, salted sprats from the Oosterschelde, carried a local reputation for centuries.
Roosendaal is about 15 kilometres east. The Brabantse Wal, an escarpment marking the transition from sandy Brabant soil to the clay polders of Zeeland, runs through the municipality and supports a band of forest unusual for this low-lying region.
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Bergen op Zoom has about 66,300 inhabitants and sits in the western corner of North Brabant, close to the Zeeland border. The town held a strategic position for centuries, controlling a passage between the Brabant interior and the Scheldt estuary. Its fortifications were besieged multiple times during the Eighty Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession. The Markiezenhof, a late-Gothic city palace, now serves as a cultural centre and museum covering local history.
Bergen op Zoom is one of the traditional Carnival strongholds of the south, known locally as Krabbegat during the festivities. The Grote Markt and the remains of the Sint-Gertrudiskerk provide the historic core. The town also has an unusual connection to anchovies: the bergse ansjovis, salted sprats from the Oosterschelde, carried a local reputation for centuries.
Roosendaal is about 15 kilometres east. The Brabantse Wal, an escarpment marking the transition from sandy Brabant soil to the clay polders of Zeeland, runs through the municipality and supports a band of forest unusual for this low-lying region.
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