Eindhoven - the main city of North Brabant and the Center for Contemporary Art and Design .At one time, the city was "raised" by Philips, which founded its headquarters here .Not so long ago the corporation moved to the capital, and Eindhoven had no choice but to bet on modernity: after World War II, almost nothing "cozy - narrow - paved" in the city was left .But today Eindhoven is residential buildings with multi-colored asymmetric windows, supermarkets under streamlined glass domes from triangular panels, street trash bins that take waste on cards, and bus stops with roofs planted with flowers .
How to get to Eindhoven
The international airport of Eindhoven is located 5 km from the city and accepts flights of many European destinations, including loukosterov. For example, you can fly here by plane Ryanair with a transfer in Bordeaux, Budapest, Krakow, Milan, Stockholm or Warsaw. In addition, it is also easy to get to Eindhoven from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport: from there every 30 minutes to the city there is a direct train (journey time about one and a half hours).
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A bit of history
The first written mention of the city is found in the 13th century; However, then it was even hardly a city, but rather a village of one and a half hundred houses with a lock .Further development of Eindhoven was its location on the road from French Liege to Holland .Fortifications around the city were strengthened several times, and although in the middle of the 16th century the city destroyed the great fire by three quarters, Wilhelm Oransky contributed to its restoration and further growth .In the 19th century, textile and tobacco factories flourished here, and in the 80s .in Eindhoven was formed the company "Philips", which pushed the economy of the city to an unprecedented takeoff .
Entertainment, excursions and attractions of Eindhoven
The Van Abbe Museum is not only the main museum in Eindhoven, but also one of the leading museums of contemporary art in the Netherlands and throughout Europe .It was founded in 1936 .and named for the creator - connoisseur of contemporary art, collector and cigar industrialist .By 2010 .in the collection of the museum there were already more than 2700 exhibits, including about 700 paintings, 1000 drawings and 1000 sculptures, installations and videos .Today's collection of works by Russian artist, designer, photographer and architect El Lisitsky in Van Abbe is the largest in the world .But here are also kept the masterpieces of Picasso, Kandinsky, Mondrian and other notable masters .
The old building of the museum was designed by Alexander Kroppoller and is a red-brick symmetrical building in a more or less traditional style .Here works of mostly Dutch and Belgian authors are kept .But as the collection grew, the museum needed a new building, which was erected according to Abel Kaen's project in 2003 .This is a state-of-the-art construction with a 27-meter tower .Here you can admire the conceptual creations of American and German artists, as well as new talented authors from Central and Eastern Europe .
Another modern symbol of Eindhoven is the Evolution building, built by Philips in 1966. Originally it was intended for the museum of science and technology and in itself looks very futuristic and still, recalling a giant flying saucer with a diameter of 77 m, which stands on twelve legs. Immediately after the opening the museum won furious popularity with its interactive exhibitions, but soon because of the tough competition it stopped paying off and was closed. Since 1998, the building has hosted a conference room.
- Look in the nanosupermarket on wheels to get acquainted with the ideas of young designers. Supermarket is, rather, a mini-exhibition inside the bus.
- Drive on a modern high-speed city bus. The bus is made of aluminum and fiberglass, looks like a train and is worn along a dedicated strip at almost the same speed.
- Photograph funny street signs, in a visual form warning of fines for drinking drinks and reverse this process in the wrong places.
- To see the newest symbol of the city - a smiling electric bulb named Lempke - in street graffiti and other objects of pop art.
- Sit on the stairs under the statue of Fritz Philips.
Another building that can not be overlooked is the "Admiralant" in the very center of the city, the highest skyscraper in Eindhoven. Its height is 105 m, and the facade is distinguished by unevenly distributed windows, so that the building looks like an old punch card. Inside is equipped with the newest shopping area, which extends to the neighboring building "Blob". It is also worth paying attention: it is something like a glass ribbed bubble of irregular shape.
Not far from the first two there is another remarkable city building: the tower of Light - Lichttoren. It was here, on the upper floors, that Philips tested their light bulbs for durability. The light burned here without days off and around the clock, for which the building got its name. And the next building is called "White Lady" - Witte Dame. It was built in 1931 in a style called "new objectivity." Today, the public library and the Academy of Design are located in the building.
Another architectural landmark of Eindhoven is Westadatoren on the corner of Westjik and Smalle Haven. Its height is 90 m, but not so much it is remarkable as the shape of the extremely sharp triangle cross-section - something like the New York "Iron".
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Museums of Eindhoven
A curious city museum is a historical, open-air museum. Here you can see the reconstructed village of the Iron Age, a farm about a thousand years old and a model of medieval Eindhoven. Also interesting is the Kempenland Museum: it occupies the building of Stentzegerkerk, which itself is an object of national heritage. This is an old church, built of tiny stones. In the museum's collection there is a wide selection of decorative and applied subjects of the region.
An entertaining visit will be to the MU art space in the building of the Witte Tower, directly opposite the public library .There are exhibits of mixed styles of visual art, design, pop art .And in the Ton Smith Museum you can see the working studio of this famous animator and artist, who once created thousands of illustrations for American The New Yorker and The Saturday Evening Post .Finally, true fans of electricity can look at the first factory "Philips" 1891 g ., that right in the city center .A small museum is opened in it, where you can find out in detail how the light bulbs produced at the end of the 19th century .
Events of Eindhoven
Eindhoven is seething and boiling; this is perhaps the most lively city of the Netherlands south. So the events in it are held all year round and the most diverse. The most famous is the Dutch Design Week in October, where about one and a half thousand designers present their works on more than 300 events throughout the city. Another landmark event is the International Forum of Light in Art and Architecture, GLOW. During its holding in late autumn, dozens of installations and performances are organized in the city.
In September, Eindhoven conducts the "Tour of the World" in memory of the liberation during the Second World War. Every evening thousands of light-emitting diodes, electric and gas lamps light up in the city, stretching to the road with a length of 22 km. The lights are combined in colorful illumination with a variety of pictures. The beginning of this tradition was laid right after the war, then it was forgotten, but again revived in 1984. The lamps burn from 19:30 to 23:00 during the week beginning on September 18.