History
VVV Gooi- en Vechtstreek Tourist Office
Always visit the tourist office if you have plans for biking or hiking as they sell plenty of useful maps for the area. It's not necessary to understand Dutch as the routes are clearly marked. They also have numerous other leaflets available, either free or not more than â¬5.
Hilversum is one of the first inhabited areas of the Netherlands, as shown by earthenware from the early to mid-bronze age 1800-1200 BCE. This prehistoric civilization is called Hilversum Culture and is characterized by the use of cremation burial under round barrows set in round barrow cemeteries. The urns show similarities with the Wessex Culture of Southern Britain, where the population might have migrated from. In the early Middle Ages, Hilversum was an agricultural area. Around 900, the first bricks were laid, but no official mention of Hilversum was made until 1305. Then called Hilfersheem, ethymologists explain the name of Hilversum to derive from Hilvertshem, which means 'houses between the hills'. First the town was a part of Naarden, which is also worth a visit for its medieval remains, but it received an official independent status in 1424. Daily life was characterized by farming, raising sheep and wool manufacturing.
Economic growth came in the 17th century when Holland became one of the richest trading nations in Europe. Canals were built to indirectly link Hilversum with Amsterdam, though fires in 1725 and 1766 destroyed most of the town. A railway link to Amsterdam in 1874 aided a substantial textile and tapestry industry. Rich traders from Amsterdam built themselves large villas in the wooded surroundings of the town, which still characterize the city. One of the families moving in were the Brenninkmeijers, currently the wealthiest family of the Netherlands. They moved in after big success in the textile industry their company being C&A, now known for the chain of clothing stores. Many of these wealthy families were Catholics, giving Hilversum a relatively Catholic demographic compared to the Protestant surroundings. As Hilversum never got city rights, locals still refer to the town centre as 'the village' het dorp. In the early 1900s, modern architects W.M. Dudok and J. Duiker from the New Objectivity School placed hundreds of remarkable buildings here and even entire neighborhoods. Dudok's masterpiece, the Hilversum Town Hall from 1931, features in many architecture textbooks. The transition to a media economy started in 1920, when the Nederlandse Seintoestellen Fabriek NSF established a radio factory. Most radio stations settled in the large villas in the leafy areas of the town. The textile industry had by then declined and the last factory closed in the 1960s. Television gave a renewed boost to the local economy and the number of inhabitants grew to 103,000 in 1964. Hilversum became the media capital of the Netherlands, and Dutch television celebrities moved in the leafy neighborhoods surrounding the town. In 1973, Hilvertshof was opened, the first and back then the largest covered shopping centre of the Netherlands.
In the next decennia, there was a decline in the number of inhabitants till an all-time low of 80,000 in 1999. Decline was caused by financial issues, smaller households, the city's infamous infrastructure and the inability to expand due to the protected forests surrounding the area. Dissatisfaction among the public made Hilversum the first town to have a party of the populist 'livable' movement Leefbaar Hilversum. In 2002, this party went national with the controversial politician Pim Fortuyn as its leader. After a radio interview during the campaign of the 2002 Dutch general election, Fortuyn was shot and killed by an animal rights activist in the Media Park in Hilversum. Only recently there has been a renewed interest in Hilversum. With financial issues a matter of history, Hilvertshof has been fully renovated and the new Gooische Brink Shopping Center has opened. New upscale and hip bars opened doors in the centre and a vintage area emerged in the Leeuwenstraat. New architectural masterpieces have been built, such as the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, as well as Zanderij Crailo, the largest wildlife crossing in the world. Its main railway station has expanded from 3 to 5 tracks and a new bicycle tunnel was constructed. The station regained Intercity status with international trains now arriving directly from Berlin.
Understand
Unlike most of the Netherlands, Hilversum is actually in a hilly area with the soil mostly consisting of sand. The city is between the major cities of Amsterdam and Utrecht, and most travelers visit it for a relaxing day off from the urban madness. The forests, lakes and heathlands surrounding the city can best be discovered by bicycle or on foot. Most of the lands are property of the Goois Natuurreservaat Foundation GNR, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the nature reserves. Another goal is to connect nature reserves that have been separated by motorways and other human-made structures. For this end, the wildlife crossing Zanderij Crailo was completed in 2006, and it currently is the largest wildlife crossing in the world. It connects the Spanderswoud and the Bussumerheide heath, and is part of a larger programme to connect nature reserves from the Utrecht Hill Ridge to Naarden.
The city itself is also green and breezy with trees pretty much everywhere. A total of 660 different types of trees to be exact, the largest variety of species in the Netherlands. Typical for the city is the way forests and city building naturally blend into each other. Hilversum has been called a 'villa village' villadorp, for its many villas with large surrounding gardens. The botanical garden Pinetum Blijdenstein is the most remarkable one, with an enormous collection of rare and endangered trees and plants, some of which are exotic. It is also home to one of the most complete collections of conifers.