Venlo Things to Do

This international horticultural expisition is held every ten years. When you're visitibg Europe and you love everything with gardens, flowers and food: make sure you visit this hugh exhibition.

We liked The Willowman exhibition most, weird shapes made by bending willowbranches. Set in the wood it has been build as a tribute to rests by prehistoric men, found in archeological traces during the devlopment of the exhibition.

Near the German border there is an area that is called the great heathland. It has the remains of many WWII bunkers in the woods, and there is an airfield that was used by the Germans in WWII and now is used for gliders and model airplanes. especially on Saturday and Sunday. Overall the area is a nice place to enjoy a bit of nature, heathland and forest on both side of the borders. This link gives a few pics and the address

http://www.digitaalfoto-album.com/dagjesuit/nederland/grooteheide.html

The monastery chapel was built in 1416 and extended in 1785. During World War II the monastery was destroyed and the monastery chapel was damaged. After the war the Dominicans established a new monastery and rebuilt the chapel. These were given up in 2005. Now called the Domani it is used for concerts and weddings.

3 more images

As I said in my introduction, our day in Venlo was a very wet one, we spent most of out=r time avoiding the heavy showers and thunderstorms.What we saw of the town looked good and also enjoyed a short walk by the river.
Here are just a few photos.

Right across the street from the central train station, there is the Limburgs Museum. With an innovative design by Jeanne Dekkers, the museum opened in 2000. It is an historical museum of the area with an extensive archeological collection.

Dutch Reformed Church. A late Gothic part of this church was already in existence at the end of the fifteenth century and was part of the former Gasthuiskapel. This church was given to the Protestants in 1632, the Catholics in 1637 and back to the Protestants in 1702.

The St Martinuskerk was built in the period 1410-1430 on the site of an older Romanesque cruciform church. The church has received many additions and renovations since, the last being in 1950 in order to repair serious war damage.

The town hall largely dates from 1596-1601 and was designed in Renaissance style by Willem van Bommel of Emmerich as a square building flanked at the front by two towers of unequal height. During a restoration between 1880 and 1887 two more towers were added, this time to the back of the building, rebuilt by P.J.H. Cuypers.

Venlo's major church is the St. Martinus, a three-aisled hall-church from the 15th century. In 1945 the tower was destroyed and after the war replaced by a new one, designed by architect Jules Kayser. I think it's a bit ugly but I don't know what exactly bothers me about it.

The town hall largely dates from 1596-1601 and was designed in Renaissance style by Willem van Bommel as a square building flanked at the front by two towers of unequal height. During a restoration between 1880 and 1887 two more towers were added, this time to the back of the building, while the facade was rebuilt in neo-Renaissance style designed by P.J.H. Cuypers. Great architect, but no respect for the authenticity of old architecture. Today nobody seems to mind though. It's still a nice building after all.