Sunset in downtown Weesp by Jeroen de Jongh Photography

About "Sunset in downtown Weesp"

by Jeroen de Jongh Photography

About the artwork

Weesp is a historic town in the Dutch province of North Holland, a former municipality, and since March 2022 a so-called urban area within the municipality of Amsterdam.

Weesp obtained city rights in 1355 and in the following centuries grew into a fortified town in the Old and New Dutch Waterline. Jenever and beer, as well as cocoa, were the economic drivers for a long time. In the 20th century, Weesp became a commuter town for nearby Amsterdam.

Weesp has a historic town centre with over 200 national monuments, a protected townscape, fortifications (including the tower fort on the Ossenmarkt from 1861, and ramparts from the 17th century), the Gothic Grote or Sint Laurenskerk from 1462, the neo-classical Town Hall of Weesp built in 1772-1776, the Roman Catholic Sint-Laurentiuskerk from 1876, and three windmills; de Vriendschap, de Eendragt, and 't Haantje.

A (born) Weesper is also called a Weesper mop: named after the local almond biscuit. Weesp's municipal archive holds the oldest working gin recipe in the Netherlands, from 1630. The town hall of the municipality of Weesperkarspel (until 1966) was located in a mansion on Hoogstraat in Weesp; this mansion is now privately owned.

The Utrechtse Vecht is a Dutch river that runs through the provinces of Utrecht and North Holland. The Vecht starts at the Weerdsluis lock in the city of Utrecht, and empties into the IJmeer some 42 kilometres further at Muiden. On its way, the Vecht flows past the towns of Maarssen, Breukelen, Loenen and Weesp, among others.

The Vecht is one of the few rivers where the water sometimes (partly) flows into the river, because the water in the IJsselmeer is considerably higher than that of the Vecht at the locks in Muiden. Only during very heavy rainfall does the river flow towards the estuary.