"Nijmegen" Nijmegen by OlafS

Nijmegen Travel Guide: 413 reviews and 790 photos

Nijmegen is old. Very old. In fact it claims to be the oldest city in the Netherlands. But so does Maastricht. Nijmegen's claim is probably the right one. True is, both cities were founded by the Romans. The problem with Nijmegen hower is that, unlike Maastricht, it doesn't look very old. Relatively little of Nijmegen's 2000 years of history has been preserved in the centre. The castle was torn down late in the 18th century. The biggest disaster in Nijmegen's long history however occured on 22 February 1944, when American planes bombed the historic centre, killing over 800 civilians and destroying many buildings. Officially this is called a mistake, but not everybody's sure it was. Contrary to what American officials have claimed the sky over Nijmegen had been clear that day.
The fighting following operation Market-Garden later damaged more. And after the war rebuilding was not always done in good taste. That's the major fault. Even repairable buildings were not always rebuild for "progression's sake", and much wás repairable! Nijmegen lost most of its beautiful towers and gained a new, ugly one indicating the location of some hideous modern church. Today Nijmegen is a city with a fairly modern look but with a few older enclaves. Not a pretty city by general standards perhaps, but the older things are often of such a high standard that the balance is quite positive in the end.

Pros and Cons

In a nutshell:A nice place for a few enjoyable hours.

Last visit to Nijmegen: Jun 2002
Intro Updated Sep 14, 2004
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Reviews (10)

Het Valkhof Things to Do (6)

This park lies at the location where a big castle stood until the end of the 18th century. First this was a Roman... more travel advice

Kronenburgertoren Things to Do (6)

The Kronenburgertoren is a tower located in the once notorious Kronenburgpark, together with a few remaining parts of... more travel advice

Besiendershuis Things to Do (6)

There are a few of these Gothic houses left in the part of the centre near the river Waal. Until the war there were many... more travel advice

St. Steven's church Things to Do (6)

The St. Steven is the only church in the centre that survived the war and the destruction afterwards. Although it's... more travel advice

Restaurants (1)
De Hemel
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Comments (4)

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vichatherly Oct 12, 2009 at 5:53 AM

What no picture of the spectacular bridge...looking forward to seeing it on your pages soon. All the best from the UK
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danitsja_nl Jan 29, 2005 at 3:50 AM

Let me know when you are anround again! Nice page you have here (-:
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isolina_it May 21, 2003 at 5:48 AM

A Very nice jewel, I hope to visit soon, can`t miss it :)
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carolineraat Jul 2, 2002 at 12:59 AM

schitterend, Nijmegen is een van mijn favorieten!