Tilburg
Municipality
Sint Jozefkerk (Saint Joseph Church) or Heuvelse kerk (Hill Church)
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Tilburg
Country	Netherlands
Province	North Brabant
Government
• Mayor	Peter Noordanus (PvdA)
• Aldermen	Jan Hamming (PvdA) Berend de Vries (D66) Roel Lauwerier (VVD) Marjo Frenk (GL) Joost Möller (VVD) Marieke Moorman (PvdA) Erik de Ridder (CDA)
Area (2009)
• Total	119.15 km2 (46.00 sq mi)
• Land	117.30 km2 (45.29 sq mi)
• Water	1.85 km2 (0.71 sq mi)
Population  (31 May 2009)Source: CBS, Statline.
• Total	203,492
• Density	1,723/km2 (4,460/sq mi)
• Demonym	Tilburger
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postcodes	5000–5049, 5056, 5070, 5071
Area code	013
Website	www.tilburg.nl

Tilburg (Template:IPA-nl) (pronunciation^ⓘ) is a landlocked municipality and a city in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of Noord-Brabant. Tilburg municipality also includes the villages of Berkel-Enschot and Udenhout.

Tilburg University is located in Tilburg, as are Avans University of Applied Sciences and Fontys University of Applied Sciences. Tilburg has nearly 30.000 students at one of these universities.

A 10 day-long funfair,^[1] the largest of the Benelux, is held in July each year. The Monday of fair week is called "Roze Maandag" (Pink Monday), and is gay-oriented, though also enjoyed by many heterosexuals.

There are three railway stations within the municipality: Tilburg, Tilburg Universiteit and Tilburg Reeshof. The tallest building in Tilburg is the Westpoint tower.

Little is known about the earliest history of Tilburg. Documents from the year 709 show the name Tilburg for the first time. After that, sources remain silent for some centuries. In the later Middle Ages, Tilburg was more of a local 'region' than a village or city, although a couple of small hamlets provided its population centers, one of which was known as 'Eastern Tilburg' (Oost-Tilburg), which was later reflected in the name of Oisterwijk ('Eastern Quarter'). This village centered around a small (probably wooden) castle or 'Motteburcht' on an equally small hill, which became derelict and was torn down after a few centuries at most. Of this first 'Tilburg Castle', nothing remained ca 2000, save a few remnants of its moat in the suburbs of Oisterwijk. In the 14th century, Tilburg was proclaimed a manor. Together with Goirle, it acquired the title of "The Manor of Tilburg and Goirle".

Successively, the manorial rights fell into the hands of several lords of noble lineage. They derived their income from taxes, fines and interest paid by the villagers.

In the 15th century, one of the lords of Tilburg, Jan van Haestrecht, built Tilburg Castle. "That stone chamber at Hasselt" is mentioned in several historical documents. In 1858, however, the castle had to make way for a factory. It lives on, however, in the city arms and logo. A replica of the fundaments of the castle was restored in ca. 1995 on its original location, after the factory was demolished. In 1803, Goirle was separated from Tilburg and on April 18, 1809, Tilburg was granted city status. In that year, it had about 9,000 inhabitants. Tilburg hosted several festivities in 2009 in celebration of 200 years' status as a city.

Tilburg grew around one of the so-called "herd places", three-cornered plots where a number of roads (usually sand roads) met. These herd places were collective pasturelands for flocks of sheep. Their triangular shape is still reflected in the layout of many places in Tilburg. Many districts – such as Korvel, Oerle, Broekhoven, Hasselt, Heikant, De Schans and Heuvel – bear the names of these old hamlets.

The poor farmers living in these hamlets soon decided to stop selling the wool of the sheep and to weave it themselves. For a long time a greater part of the space in their houses, which used to be very small, was occupied by a loom. In the 17th century the number of looms in Tilburg was about 300. Enterprising people saw their chance. As so-called drapers they supplied the weavers with the raw materials for their "home working". The first Tilburg "millhouses" had come into existence. From that point on, the wool- industry underwent rapid growth and in 1881 Tilburg had as many as 145 woolmills. Home weaving continued, however, until the early years of the 20th century. Woolen textiles from Tilburg were known far and wide. After the Second World War, Tilburg retained its place as wool capital of the Netherlands, but in the 1960s the industry collapsed and by the 1980s the number of woolmills could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Present-day Tilburg industry is characterized by a large variety of enterprises. The main economic sector has become transport & logistics, with a variety of industry as a good second.

King William II (1792–1849) always bore a warm heart towards Tilburg. "Here I can breathe freely and I feel happy", he once said about the town. And he acted accordingly. King William II always supported Tilburg, also in a financial way. He improved the sheep breeding, built new farms and founded a cavalry barracks on the St. Joseph Street, now the imposing building of the City Archives. Although the King was always received with open arms by several befriended manufacturers, he needed his own residence in Tilburg. The palace was built in the middle of the 19th century.

William II died a few days before the completion of his palace. It is now part of the city hall. In 1987, close to the palace, an obelisk was erected, in remembrance of King William II. It replaced the old needle from 1874, which disappeared from the street scene in 1968. After being restored, William II's statue has got a place again in the heart of the city, where he felt happy among its inhabitants. The local football club Willem II Tilburg was named after him.

Tilburg is an interesting, vivid and warm city^{[citation needed]}, surrounded by beautiful^{[citation needed]} nature areas like Moerenburg, De Loonse and Drunense Duinen, Campina and De Utrecht. There's a lively city centre, offering well known brands but small, specialised shops as well. And of course there are large companies like Fuji, Goodyear, Björn Borg, Interpolis. More on present-day Tilburg and the corporate line followed by the Tilburg city council is to be found in the article on Tilburg, on the Tilburg City site. Higher Education is of significant importance, with Tilburg University attracting scholars from all over the world. Tilburg University was founded in 1927 and Tilburg is a fully accredited government financed university with almost 12,000 students. Tilburg university (motto: "Understanding Society") specialises in the social sciences and humanities and has five faculties. De Koningshoeven Brewery is in Berkel-Enshot, which is part of Tilburg.

• 
  Tilburg, 2nd highest tower of the city, called: StadsHeer
• 
  Tilburg, view at Heuvelstraat
• 
  Tilburg, the Saint Denis Church, known as the: Heikese Kerk
• 
  City Hall of Tilburg, called: Paleis-Raadhuis

Tilburg experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) similar to almost all of the Netherlands.

Iris Ohyama has its European offices in Tilburg.^[3]

• Tilburg is a pilot city of the Council of Europe and the EU Intercultural cities programme.

The city of Tilburg hosts many festivals, such as the Festival Mundial (world culture), Stranger Than Paranoia (jazz), Incubate (formerly known as ZXZW), Tilburg Students Festival, and Roadburn Festival. 013 is a modern popcentre, in a specially desgned building by Mels Crouwel, where artists like Nick Cave, Jerry Lee Lewis, Blasters and Salif Keita performed. Also Paradox is an interesting place, for experimental jazz and improvised music. Fontys University of Applied Sciences started a popacademy in the beginning of the 21st century, students often perform on local stages.

Tilburg has an outstanding museum of Modern Art, De Pont Foundation. Also there's a large textile museum, offering not only a historical view in its former factory, but also a laboratorium for design, production and development of textile as a material. Another museum is Noordbrabants Natuurmuseum.

The local football team, Willem II played in the Eredivisie but not any more. (Dutch Premier League), and are themselves named in remembrance of King William II.

Tilburg Ten Miles is an annual road running competition held in Tilburg.

The Hockey team Tilburg Trappers also does well in the Dutch eredivisie (Dutch Premier League).

Students sports like rowing and hockey are popular as well. Tilburg hosts three field hockey clubs that play in top national leagues.

• Guus Meeuwis, well known singer and songwriter
• Ruben van Assouw, sole survivor of the crash of Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771
• Michael van Poppel, "BNO News founder"
• Gerard van Spaendonck, painter
• Theo l' Herminez (1921–1997), painter
• Norbert Schmelzer, minister
• Ivo de Wijs, writer, poet
• Jan Hommen, CEO ING Bank
• Bart le Blanc, Vice President, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
• E.J. Dijksterhuis, mathematician, winner PC Hooft price
• Franciscus J. Donders, medical scientist
• Petrus Donders, missionary
• Piet Heerkens, priest and poet
• Leonard Retel Helmrich, cinematographer and film director
• Bas Rutten, Mixed Martial Artist
• Hennie Vrienten, musician, composer
• Krezip
• Cilvaringz
• Intwine
• Ruud Jolie
• Freek Bartels
• Francis August Janssens (1843–1897) Bishop of Natchez, Mississippi, Archbishop of New Orleans
• Cornelis van Spaendonck, still lifes painter in Paris and at the Manufacture de Sèvres (miniatures on porcelain); died in Paris in 1839.
• Fedde Le Grand, musician, producer
• Remy Bonjasky, martial artist; originally from Suriname
• Carla van Raay, author of God's Callgirl and its sequel.

Tilburg is connected by only one national motorway, the A58 (to Breda and Eindhoven). Other important roads include: The N65 (to 's-Hertogenbosch) and the A/N261 (to Waalwijk). Tilburg has three railway stations. In Tilburg (Centraal) stop sprinters as well as intercity trains. At the other two (Tilburg University and Tilburg Reeshof), only sprinters stop.

• Tilburg is a pilot city of the Council of Europe and the European Commission Intercultural cities programme.^[4]

Tilburg is twinned with:

• Jewish Tilburg
• Language of Tilburg: 'Tilburgs', a subdialect from Brabantian
• Intercultural cities

Notes

• Official website
• Tilburg University
• Fontys University of Applied Sciences
• Avans University of Applied Sciences

Media related to Tilburg at Wikimedia Commons

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Tilburg" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.