Roerdalen

Roerdalen ( listen? / I ) is a Dutch municipality in the province of Limburg.

The community was originally created in 1991 by the amalgamation of the then independent municipality Vlodrop in the community Melick en Herkenbosch. Since 1993, it bears the name Roerdalen. On 1 January 2007, the neighboring community Ambt Montfort was incorporated, making the community doubled its number of inhabitants.

Districts

• Herkenbosch ( 4120 inhabitants)
• Melick ( 3645 inhabitants)
• Montfort ( 3145 inhabitants)
• Posterholts ( 4278 inhabitants)
• Sint Odiliënberg ( 3576 inhabitants)
• Vlodrop ( 2523 inhabitants)

Of these six districts are, inter alia, the residential area and farming communities Aan de Berg, Etsberg, Holst, Lerop, Paarlo, Reutje, Vårst and Vlodrop station.

(As of 1 January 2006)

Geographical Location

The villages are in the valley of the Rur. The villages Posterholts and Vlodrop, and the northern forest and heathland Meinweg National Park is located on the German-Dutch border.

History

The villages Melick and Vlodrop were 858 or 943 first mentioned.

Through the municipal area leads since 1879 the single-track railway line Iron Rhine. The reactivation of the disused track is controversial. Tests of coal mining were adjusted after a few years with the closure of the Beatrix mine in the northern municipality in 1962.

Coat of arms

Blazon: Split front in red an upright, two-tailed, black-eyed, silver lion, divided back, top of silver and blue divided six times, including in silver a red heraldic lily. A guardant upright lion with open mouth in natural colors serves as a plate holder - it holds the shield in front of his body, with his front paws on the top plate corners, so that the shield covers the entire lion except head and four paws.

The coat of arms held by a lion coat of arms combines motifs of three villages: the Lion of Melick and Herkenbosch, the red lily of Vlodrop and the three blue bars Posterholts.

Twinning

• It is twinned with the municipality Birkenfeld on the Nahe, in Rhineland -Palatinate.

Leisure

The Meinweg National Park invites for hiking and horseback riding. A visitor center provides an insight into natural and cultural history of the area.

Attractions

• Romanesque basilica of the 11th century in Sint Odiliënberg
• Prins Bernhardmolen ( Prince Bernhard mill) between Melick and Herkenbosch: After destruction in the Second World War to 1999, operative reconstructed windmill. Next to the mill is a museum with historical agricultural machinery dating from before 1950.
• College of St. Louis. From 1909 to 1979, the convent was used as a boarding school and since then under the name of Maharishi European Research University ( MERU ) as a meditation center. In 2001, the Grade II listed building was partially destroyed and abandoned to decay. A new building is planned and will be visualized since the summer of 2007 with a building- high figure in front of the main façade of the building. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi died in February 2008 here.