Stichtse Vecht
Stichtse Vecht is a municipality of the Netherlands and lies in the northwestern part of the province of Utrecht.
The municipality has about 63,000 inhabitants and covers an area of about 107 km2.
Stichtse Vecht was formed on 1 January 2011 by a merger of the municipalities of Breukelen, Maarssen and Loenen.
Geography
Stichtse Vecht is situated north of the city of Utrecht, in an area called the Vechtstreek. It is near sea level and is mostly rural with many pastures.Within its boundaries are the Maarsseveense Plassen, which are recreational lakes. Northeast it borders the Loosdrechtse Plassen, also recreational lakes, which lie in neighbouring municipality of Wijdemeren.
The Amsterdam–Rhine Canal and the river Vecht cross the municipality from south to north.
Topography
''Map of Stichtse Vecht, June 2015''
History
The municipality contains several country estates and castles, like Nijenrode Castle, Slot Zuylen and Huis te Mijnden.Transportation
The A2 motorway crosses the municipality from south to north.There are two railway stations:
- Breukelen railway station
- Maarssen railway station
Population centers
- Breukelen
- Gieltjesdorp
- Kockengen
- Kortrijk
- Laagnieuwkoop
- Nieuwer-Ter-Aa
- Noordeinde
- Oud-Aa
- Oukoop
- Portengen
- Portengense Brug
- Scheendijk
- Spengen
- Zuideinde
Former municipality of Maarssen:
Municipal council
After the 2022 local elections, the municipal council of Stichtse Vecht consisted of the following parties:Since 2020 the mayor has been, who is not a member of any political party.
Notable people
The arts
- Willem Vrelant a Dutch book illuminator
- Constantijn à Renesse a Dutch Golden Age painter
- Gerrit Zegelaar a Dutch painter
- Isabelle de Charrière a Dutch writer of letters, novels, pamphlets, music and plays
- Nicolaas Bastert a Dutch landscape painter
- Marjolein Bastin a Dutch nature artist, writer, children's author and illustrator
- Rutger Hauer a Dutch actor, writer and environmentalist
- Penney de Jager dancer and choreographer, lives in Stichtse Vecht
- Leoni Jansen a Dutch singer, stage-director and TV anchor-woman
Public thinking & public service
- Gerrit van Arkel a Dutch Jugendstil architect
- Aarnoud van Heemstra a Dutch nobleman, jurist and politician.
- Pieter Nicolaas van Eyck a foreign correspondent, poet, critic, essayist and philosopher
- Pierre Joseph Eyma a Dutch botanist
- Annelien Kappeyne van de Coppello a Dutch politician
- Sander Griffioen a Dutch philosopher and academic
- Bernt Schneiders a Dutch politician, Mayor of Landsmeer, Heemskerk & Haarlem
- Liesbeth Spies a Dutch politician, Mayor of Alphen aan den Rijn
- Marianne Thieme a Dutch politician, author, animal rights activist and jurist
Sport
- Cor Aalten a Dutch athlete, competed at the 1932 Summer Olympics
- Henk [van der Grift] a retired Dutch speed skater, competed at the 1960 Winter Olympics
- Bart Verschoor a sailor, competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- Annemieke Kiesel a former Dutch footballer and coach, also played for the Dutch national team, retiring with 156 caps