Culture and tourism
[edit]
Medieval city wall (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwewal)
View of Maastricht from the fortress on Mount Saint Peter
Vrijthof with Saint John's (left) and Saint Servatius Basilica
View of Our Lady's from the church tower of Saint John's
Christmas decorations at Onze Lieve Vrouweplein
Markt and town hall
13th-century Dominican church converted into a bookstore
Slavante on the slopes of Mount Saint Peter
The landmark tower of the Bonnefanten Museum on the east bank of the Meuse in Wyck-Céramique
Medieval art in the Bonnefantenmuseum
Chest of Saint Servatius in the Treasury of the Basilica of Saint Servatius
Maastricht University faculty on their way to the annual dies natalis
TEFAF, Maastricht's prestigious art fair
Giants' Parade, 2019: Gigantius of Maastricht
Sights of Maastricht[edit]
Maastricht is known in the Netherlands and beyond for its lively squares, narrow streets, and historic buildings. The city has 1,677 national heritage buildings (rijksmonumenten), more than any Dutch city outside Amsterdam. In addition to that there are 3,500 locally listed buildings (gemeentelijke monumenten). The entire city centre is a conservation area (beschermd stadsgezicht) and largely traffic-free. The tourist information office (VVV) is located in the basement of Dinghuis, a late-medieval courthouse overlooking Grote Staat.
Maastricht's main sights include:
Meuse (Dutch: Maas) river, with several parks and promenades along the river, and some interesting bridges:
Sint Servaasbrug, partly from the 13th century; the oldest bridge in the Netherlands;
Hoge Brug ("High Bridge"), a modern pedestrian bridge designed by René Greisch.
City fortifications, including:
Remnants of the first and second medieval city wall and several towers (13th and 14th centuries);
Helpoort ("Hell's Gate"), an imposing gate with two towers, built around 1230, the oldest city gate in the Netherlands;
Wycker Waterpoort, a medieval gate in Wyck, used for accessing the city from the Meuse, demolished in the 19th century but rebuilt shortly afterwards;
Hoge Fronten (or: Linie van Du Moulin), remnants of 17th and 18th-century fortifications, including a number of well-preserved bastions, couvrefaces, lunettes and dry moats;
Fort Sint-Pieter, an early 18th-century fortress on the flanks of Mount Saint Peter, offering guided tours and panoramic views of the city; and Fort Willem I, an early 19th-century fortress on the Caberg elevation;
Casemates, an underground network of tunnels, built as sheltered emplacements for guns and cannons. These connected tunnels built of brick and limestone run for around fourteen kilometres underneath the city's fortifications. Guided tours are available.
Binnenstad: inner-city pedestrianized district with popular shopping streets Grote and Kleine Staat, high-end shopping streets Stokstraat and Maastrichter Smedenstraat, and two indoor shopping centres. Several main sights in Maastricht as well as a large number of cafés, pubs and restaurants are centred around the three main squares in Binnenstad:
Vrijthof, the largest and possibly best-known square in Maastricht, with many well-known pubs and restaurants. Other sights include:
Basilica of Saint Servatius, a predominantly Romanesque church with an imposing westwork and important 12th and 13th-century sculptures; most notably the westwork interior figurative capitals, the westwork reredo, and the sculpted South Portal. The tomb of Saint Servatius in the crypt is a favoured place of pilgrimage. The church has an important church treasury;
Sint-Janskerk, a Gothic church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, the city's main Protestant church since 1632, adjacent to the Basilica of Saint Servatius, with a distinctive limestone tower painted red;
Spaans Gouvernement ("Spanish Government Building"), a 16th-century former canon's house, later used as a residence for the Brabant and Habsburg rulers, now housing the Fotomuseum aan het Vrijthof;
Hoofdwacht, an 18th-century military guard house, built in the style of the Dutch Baroque, used for exhibitions;
Generaalshuis ("General's House"), a Neoclassical mansion, now the city's main theater (Theater aan het Vrijthof).
Onze Lieve Vrouweplein, a tree-lined square with a number of pavement cafes. Main sights:
Basilica of Our Lady, a partly 11th-century church, one of the Netherlands' most significant Romanesque buildings with an imposing Mosan westwork and an important church treasury. Perhaps best known for the shrine of Our Lady, Star of the Sea in an adjacent Gothic chapel;
Derlon Museumkelder, a permanent exhibition of ancient Roman remains in the basement of Hotel Derlon.
Markt, the town's historic market square. Sights include:
The Town Hall, built in the 17th century by Pieter Post and considered one of the highlights of Dutch Baroque architecture. Nearby is Dinghuis, the late medieval town hall and courthouse with an early Renaissance façade;
Mosae Forum, a shopping centre and civic building designed by Jo Coenen and Bruno Albert in the early 2000s. Inside the Mosae Forum parking garage there is a small exhibition of Citroën miniature cars;
Entre Deux, a rebuilt shopping centre in Postmodern style, which has won several international awards. It includes a bookstore located inside a former 13th-century Dominican church. In 2008, British newspaper The Guardian proclaimed this the world's most beautiful bookshop.
Jekerkwartier, a neighbourhood named after the small river Jeker, which pops up between old houses and remnants of city walls. The western part of the neighbourhood (named the Maastricht Latin Quarter) is dominated by university buildings and (performing) arts schools. Sights include:
several churches and monasteries: the 13th-century First Franciscan Monastery, the 17th-century "Veiled Sisters" and Bonnefanten monasteries, and the 18th-century Second Franciscan Monastery and Walloon and Lutheran churches;
Maastricht Natural History Museum, a small museum of natural history in a former monastery;
Grote Looiersstraat ("Great Tanners' Street"), a former canal that was filled in during the 19th century, lined with elegant houses, the city's poorhouse (now part of the university library) and Sint-Maartenshofje, a typically Dutch hofje.
Kommelkwartier, Statenkwartier and Boschstraatkwartier, three relatively quiet inner city neighbourhoods with several monasteries, university buildings and industrial heritage building:
Crosier Monastery in Kommelkwartier, a well-preserved Gothic monastery, now a five-star hotel;
Sint-Matthiaskerk, a 14th-century parish church dedicated to Saint Matthew;
Sphinx Quarter, an upcoming neighbourhood and cultural hotspot in the north of the city centre. Several of the industrial buildings of the former Sphinx glass, crystal and ceramics factories have been transformed for new uses;
Bassin, a restored early 19th-century inner harbor surrounded by industrial heritage buildings, re-used as cultural venues, bars and restaurants.
Wyck, the old quarter on the right bank of the river Meuse.
Saint Martin's Church, a Gothic Revival church designed by Pierre Cuypers in 1856;
Rechtstraat and Hoogbrugstraat are the oldest streets in Wyck with many historic buildings and a mix of specialty shops, art galleries and restaurants;
Stationsstraat and Wycker Brugstraat are elegant streets with the majority of the buildings dating from the late 19th century. At the east end of Stationsstraat stands the Maastricht railway station from 1913.
Céramique, a modern neighbourhood on the site of the former Société Céramique potteries, including a park along the river Meuse (Charles Eyckpark) and a showcase of architectural highlights:
Wiebengahal, one of the few remaining industrial buildings in the neighbourhood and an early example of modernist architecture in the Netherlands, dating from 1912;
Bonnefanten Museum by Aldo Rossi, featuring a landmark rocket-shaped tower;
Centre Céramique, a public library and exhibition space by Jo Coenen;
La Fortezza, a red brick office and apartment building by Mario Botta;
Siza Tower, a residential tower clad with zinc and white marble, by Álvaro Siza Vieira;
Other buildings in Céramique by MBM, Cruz y Ortiz, Luigi Snozzi, Aurelio Galfetti, Herman Hertzberger, Wiel Arets, Hubert-Jan Henket, Charles Vandenhove and Bob Van Reeth.
Sint-Pietersberg ("Mount Saint Peter"): modest hill and nature reserve south of the city, peaking at 171 metres (561 ft) above sea level. It serves as Maastricht's main recreation area and a viewing point. The main sights include:
Fort Sint-Pieter, an early 18th-century military fortress fully restored in recent years;
Caves of Maastricht aka Grotten Sint-Pietersberg, an underground network of man-made tunnels ("caves") in limestone quarries. Guided tours are available;
ENCI Quarry: a former quarry and nature reserve with several lakes, accessible via a spectacular staircase with viewing platforms;
Slavante, a 19th-century former gentlemen's club on the site of a Franciscan monastery (of which parts are still standing), now a popular hang-out, offering panoramic views over the Meuse valley;
Lichtenberg, a ruined medieval castle keep and an adjacent 18th-century farmstead;
D'n Observant ("The Observer"), an artificial hilltop, made with the spoils of a nearby quarry, now a nature reserve.
Museums in Maastricht[edit]
Bonnefanten Museum is the foremost museum for old masters and contemporary fine art in the province of Limburg. The collection features medieval sculpture (The Virgin and Child with St. Anne), early Italian painting (Giovanni del Biondo, Domenico di Michelino, Jacopo del Casentino, Sano di Pietro, Pietro Nelli), Southern Netherlandish and German Renaissance painting (Colijn de Coter, Roelandt Savery, Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Lucas Cranach the Elder), and contemporary art (Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Richard Serra, Luciano Fabro, Marcel Broodthaers, Joseph Beuys, Neo Rauch, Gilbert and George, Peter Doig, Gary Hume, Grayson Perry, Luc Tuymans, Ai Weiwei).
The Treasury of the Basilica of Saint Servatius includes religious artifacts from the 4th to 20th centuries, notably those related to Saint Servatius. Highlights include the shrine, the key and the crosier of Saint Servatius, and the reliquary bust donated by Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma.
The Treasury of the Basilica of Our Lady contains religious art, textiles, reliquaries, liturgical vessels and other artifacts from the Middle Ages and later periods.
Derlon Museumkelder is a preserved archeological site in the basement of a hotel with Roman and pre-Roman remains.
The Maastricht Natural History Museum exhibits collections relating to the geology, paleontology and flora and fauna of Limburg. Highlights in the collection are several fragment of skeletons of Mosasaurs found in a quarry in Mount Saint Peter.
Fotomuseum aan het Vrijthof is a local museum of photography housed in the 16th-century Spanish Government building, featuring some period rooms and temporary exhibitions of photographers.
Events and festivals[edit]
Dies natalis, birthday of the University of Maastricht, with procession of university faculty to St. John's Church where honorary degrees are awarded (9 January).
Carnival (Maastrichtian: Vastelaovend) - a traditional three-day festival in the southern part of the Netherlands; in Maastricht mainly outdoors with typical Zaate Herremeniekes (February/March).
The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF), the world's leading art and antiques fair (March).
Tattoo Expo Maastricht, an anunual international tattoo exhibition (March).
Amstel Gold Race, an international cycling race which starts in Maastricht (usually April).
KunstTour, an annual art festival (May).
European Model United Nations (EuroMUN), an annual international conference (May).
Stadsprocessie, religious procession with reliquaries of Saint Servatius and other local saints (first Sunday after 13 May).
Pilgrimage of the Relics (Dutch: Heiligdomsvaart), pilgrimage with relics display and processions dating from the Middle Ages (May/June; once in 7 years; next: 2032).
Giants' Parade (Dutch: Reuzenstoet), parade of processional giants, mainly from Belgium and France (June; once in 5 years; next: 2024).
Maastrichts Mooiste, an annual running and walking event (June).
Fashionclash, international fashion event throughout the city (June).
Vrijthof concerts by André Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra (July/August).
Preuvenemint, a large culinary event held on the Vrijthof square (August).
Inkom, the traditional opening of the academic year and introduction for new students of Maastricht University (August).
Musica Sacra, a festival of religious (classical) music (September).
Nederlandse Dansdagen (Netherlands Dance Days), a modern dance festival (October).
Jazz Maastricht, a jazz festival formerly known as Jeker Jazz (autumn).
11de van de 11de (the 11th of the 11th), the official start of the carnival season (11 November).
Jumping Indoor Maastricht, an international concours hippique (showjumping) (November).
Magic Maastricht (Magisch Maastricht), a winter-themed funfair and Christmas market held on Vrijthof square and other locations throughout the city (December/January).
Furthermore, the Maastricht Exposition and Congress Centre (MECC) hosts many events throughout the year.
