Monster, South Holland

52.0235574.169354Koordinaten: 52 ° 1 ' N, 4 ° 10' O Monster is a Dutch city on the North Sea in the province of South Holland. The place belongs to the municipality of Westland, and lies about 10 km south- west of The Hague. According to the 2005 Monster has 16,624 inhabitants.

History

In the 13th century, large parts of today's Westland, Loosduinen and The Hague area were managed by monster. Only with the construction of the place The Hague, this area was divided into Haag- Ambacht and Half- Loosduinen. 1811 Loosduinen was finally separated from monsters and temporarily as a separate parish, but is now part of The Hague.

The origin of the name Monster is not clear safely. He probably comes from the Latin term " Monasterium ", which means monastery and the land belonging to him is called.

Monster was formerly a place of pilgrimage since the local church was in possession of some relics of their patron, St. Machutus, which is called in the Dutch Machuut. The people came to the monsters in the hope of being cured of a disease in which it has probably traded epilepsy.

By 2004, Monster was an independent municipality, which included even the places Ter Heijde aan Zee and Poeldijk. At that time the congregation monster had over 20,000 inhabitants and was 20.15 km ². On 1 January 2004 it was merged with other municipalities to the new municipality Westland.

Attractions

Monster has some attractions, the most important part of the old church. At the church was built since about 1050-1100 and since about 1450 it has the present form. 1901 she burned down completely and was later rebuilt in its old form again.

Also worth mentioning is the windmill " De Four Winds ", which dates from 1882, in its current form. However, there are records of a windmill dating from the twelfth century, and finds that on a mill to point much earlier at this point.

The St. Joseph monastery was built from 1850 and should allow nuns to teach children. Later the monastery garden was added. The last nuns left the place in 1994, the monastery was completely renovated and is now used for both homes as well as for the community center " De Noviteit ".

North Sea

Monster is just off the North Sea and has a beach of about 5 km in length. He is visited every year by thousands of tourists, especially day-trippers. In Monster is also a station of the water rescue.