Giethoorn

Giethoorn
Town

Flag
Coat of arms
Nickname(s): Venice of the North[1]
Venice of the Netherlands[2]
Giethoorn
Location in Overijssel
Coordinates: 52°44′20″N 6°4′41″E / 52.73889°N 6.07806°E / 52.73889; 6.07806Coordinates: 52°44′20″N 6°4′41″E / 52.73889°N 6.07806°E / 52.73889; 6.07806
Country Netherlands
Province  Overijssel
Municipality Steenwijkerland
Population
 • Total 2,620
Time zone UTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+2 (CEST)

Giethoorn (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɣitɦoːrn]) is a town in the province of Overijssel, Netherlands with a population of 2,620. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland, about 5 km southwest of Steenwijk. Giethoorn is often referred to as "Little Venice" or the "Venice of the Netherlands".

History

Giethoorn used to be a pedestrian precinct, but nowadays exceptions are made. It became locally famous, especially after 1958, when the Dutch film maker Bert Haanstra made his famous comedy Fanfare there. In the old part of the village, there were no roads (though a cycling path was eventually added), and all transport was done by water over one of the many canals. The lakes in Giethoorn were formed by peat unearthing.

Giethoorn was a separate municipality until 1973, when it became part of Brederwiede, which lost its municipality status in 2001 to merge with Steenwijk.[3]

Tourism

Tourism has had a relatively small influence on the old traditional town. The village, still only fully accessible by boat, is one of several places commonly known as the Venice of the North[4] or Venice of the Netherlands.[5] Giethoorn has over 150 bridges.[6]

Giethoorn is a very popular attraction among Chinese tourists. The village of only 2620 inhabitants sees between 150,000[7] and 200,000 Chinese tourists every year.

Monopoly edition

The village of Giethoorn fended off competition from some 182 contenders across the world to achieve a place on the board of the new international edition of Monopoly.[1] An online campaign led by local Village Marketeer Giethoorn.com resulted in enough votes to obtain spot number 21 on the special edition.

References

  1. 1 2 Dutch News article (in English): "Dutch village of Giethoorn wins place on new international Monopoly set".
  2. ↑ Giethoorn, DailyMail.
  3. ↑ Ad van der Meer and Onno Boonstra, Repertorium van Nederlandse gemeenten, KNAW, 2006.
  4. ↑ "Giethoorn travel guide". Retrieved 2008-06-20.
  5. ↑ "Photos from Giethoorn, Venice of the Netherlands". Archived from the original on 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
  6. ↑ "Holland.com Giethoorn guide". Retrieved 2014-02-11.
  7. ↑ Dutch: Chinezen in Nederland, Connexion
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