DORDRECHT tourist attractions

Dordrecht is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands. Strategically located in the Meuse-Rhine delta, it was an important commercial center for centuries, and was one of the most important cities in the Netherlands during the Middle Ages. A historic spatial arrangement with canals and picturesque tenement houses with facades inclined as a result of construction on the wet ground has been preserved here.

The beginnings of the town date back to the 9th century, when a settlement was established here, where tolls were collected from boats crossing the Meuse and the Rhine. Over time, it grew and enriched with numerous privileges and in 1220 it received city rights.

The city occupies an important place in the history of the country. in 1572, it was the first to support the insurgents fighting against Spain, and a few months later a meeting of representatives of the Republic of the United Netherlands Provinces was held here, which gave rise to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was also one of the main centers of Calvinism in the Netherlands in the 17th century.

The medieval layout of streets and canals has been preserved here to this day, with the longest commercial street of the Netherlands, Voorstraat. Above the canals there are brick tenement houses that look like they are about to fall over. This is the result of building a city in the swamps. Krzywy is also the Big Church in Dordrecht, which is the local cathedral. The classicist City Hall of Dordrecht, the Renaissance Groothoofds Gate and the Kyck Over Den Dyck Mill, built at the beginning of the 18th century, which can be visited, come from a later period.

There is no shortage of interesting museums in the city. The most important is the Dordrechts Museum with a valuable collection of Dutch Renaissance and Baroque paintings. There is also the Inland Museum devoted to navigation on rivers and canals, the Museum 1940-1945 related to the events of World War II and the Museum of National Education. In the House of Patriots in the Dordach, you can see what life was like for the richest class of the bourgeoisie, and in the House of Van Gijn you can see a wonderful collection of arts and crafts, toys and paintings from the 16th to 18th centuries.