Heerlen
Heerlen
Heële | |
|---|---|
City and municipality | |
View of the town hall | |
|
Flag Coat of arms | |
Location in Limburg | |
| Coordinates: 50°53′N 5°59′E / 50.883°N 5.983°E | |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Province | Limburg |
| Government | |
| • Body | Municipal council |
| • Acting Mayor | Roel Wever (VVD) |
| Area | |
• Municipality | 45.53 km2 (17.58 sq mi) |
| • Land | 44.94 km2 (17.35 sq mi) |
| • Water | 0.59 km2 (0.23 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 113 m (371 ft) |
| Population (Municipality, January 2021; Urban and Metro, May 2014) | |
• Municipality | 86,874 |
| • Density | 1,934/km2 (5,010/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 200,957 |
| • Metro | 247,731 |
| Demonym | Heerlenaar |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postcode | 6400–6433 |
| Area code | 045 |
| Website | www |
Heerlen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦeːrlə(n)] ⓘ; Limburgish: Heële [ˈɦeə˦lə]) is a city and a municipality in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is the third largest settlement proper in the province of Limburg. Measured as a municipality, it is the fourth largest municipality in the province of Limburg.
Heerlen forms part of the city-region of Parkstad Limburg, an agglomeration with about 250,000 inhabitants and encompassing 8 municipalities. It is to the east of Maastricht and north of the German city of Aachen.
After its early Roman beginnings and a modest medieval period, Heerlen became a centre for the coal mining industry in the Netherlands in the late 19th century. In the 20th century, architect Frits Peutz played a major role in shaping the city as we know it today. His most famous design, and a distinctive building in the city centre, is the so-called Glaspaleis (Glass Palace), listed as one of the world's thousand most architecturally important buildings of the 20th century.