About Kerkrade
Kerkrade is known far and wide as a city of sound, culture and sights. The many music societies, the dozens of works of art in the city and its specific cultural features form the breeding ground for thecity’s rich and varied cultural life. Kerkrade is host to two music festivals generating national and international attraction: the World Wind Music Contest (WMC) and the Orlando Festival. Kerkrade is well-known not only for its music, but in recent years it has also built up a reputation as a city of many other attractions.
Attractions and places of interest
Kerkrade has a broad spectrum of activities and places of interest. GaiaZOO, Discovery Center Continium, Rolduc Abbey and the Parkstad Limburg football stadium have put the city on the map. Finally Kasteel Erenstein is another lovely place worth visiting. This 18thcentury castle is situated close to the Anstel Valley.
Nature
Kerkrade has lots of green areas to spend quality time in. The various residential centres of Kerkrade have grown historically around former coal mines. They are linked to one other by stream valleys with woods, water and farmland that endow visitors spending time there with a feeling of space.
Mining past
One special aspect of the history of Kerkrade is coal mining. Kerkrade was the oldest mining town in the Netherlands. Coal was being mined here as far back as the Middle Ages. The mining history in the twentieth century would ultimately define the image of the whole region.
Since the closing of the mines in 1965, not much is left of that ‘black’ history in Kerkrade. The former mining sites were restructured in the “black to green” operation. In the Market Place there is the miner’s statue ‘d’r Joep’, The Nulland Shaft has been rebuilt into an artists’ workshop and the sites where the slag was once dumped have been transformed into green walking areas.