Bredevoort

Bredevoort

flag	coat of arms
province	Gelderland
local community	Aalten
Area  - land  - water	6.73  km 2 6.52 km 2 0.21 km 2
Residents	1,635 (Jan 1, 2017)
Coordinates	51 ° 56 '  N , 6 ° 37'  E Coordinates: 51 ° 56 '  N , 6 ° 37'  E
height	27  m NAP
Important traffic route
prefix	0543
Postcodes	7109, 7121, 7126
Website	Bredevoort homepage
Location of Bredevoort in the municipality of Aalten
Street scene with church

Bredevoort ( Brevoort in Lower Saxony ) is a town in the Dutch municipality of Aalten ( Gelderland province ), about 12 km north of the German city of Bocholt . The name Bredevoort is derived from brede voorde ( German broad ford ). The settlement arose around the Bredevoort Castle and gradually developed into a fortress town in the center of the former glory of Bredevoort . The formerly fortified character can still be seen today in the cityscape.  

Book City

Second-hand bookshop

The city is shaped by the Middle Ages . Bredevoort became famous because of an idea from 1992. Community members read an article in a newspaper about the book town of Hay-on-Wye . Bredevoort also seemed ideally suited to a book town. On August 27, 1993, the book town of Bredevoort was officially opened. Since that day, Bredevoort has hosted a large number of antiquarian booksellers (over 30 shops), a bookbinding service , a medieval restaurant and an art gallery. Large book markets take place regularly.

Gondola ride

Gondola ride in 2008

From 1928 to 2009 the Bredevoort gondola rides took place on the last weekend in September on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. In a parade, rowing boats pulled rafts across the Bredevoorter Gracht, on which frames made of light bulbs were mounted. Since 2010 it is no longer the gondolas that have been moving, but the viewers: The rafts are anchored, their “light images”, which depict a new theme every year, are shown on a tour along the canal. The event is now called Bredevoortschittert . (Schitteren - "shine, glitter, shine")

Attractions

• City moat ( Gracht )
• Historic city center with a medieval street scene
• Prins van Oranje windmill
• Sint-Joriskirche
• Sint-Gregoriuskirche

gallery

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  Book market

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  Fortress city

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  Mill 'Prins van Oranje'

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  Map of the county of Zutphen , here Br ee devoort

Web links

Commons : Bredevoort  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikisource: Bredevoort in the Topographia Circuli Burgundici (Mathäus Merian)  - sources and full texts

• Book City website (Dutch, German, English)
• Website of the gondola ride (German, Dutch)
• Illustration by Frans Hogenberg from 1605: Breford behent through enen list, Besprongen was at one end, ... ( digitized version )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kerncijfers wijken en buurten 2017 Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek , accessed on July 1, 2018 (Dutch)