Maastricht Mestreech |
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Municipality | |||
View of Maastricht city centre with its medieval bridge (Sint Servaasbrug) on the Meuse river
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Anthem: Mestreechs Volksleed | |||
Location in Limburg |
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Coordinates: 50°51′N 5°41′E / 50.850°N 5.683°ECoordinates: 50°51′N 5°41′E / 50.850°N 5.683°E | |||
Country | Netherlands | ||
Province | Limburg | ||
Settled | ≈ 500 BC | ||
City rights | 1204 | ||
Boroughs |
7 Districts
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Government | |||
• Body | Municipal council | ||
• Mayor | Annemarie Penn-te Strake (independent) | ||
Area | |||
• Municipality | 60.03 km2 (23.18 sq mi) | ||
• Land | 56.81 km2 (21.93 sq mi) | ||
• Water | 3.22 km2 (1.24 sq mi) | ||
Elevation | 49 m (161 ft) | ||
Population (Municipality, May 2014; Urban and Metro, May 2014) | |||
• Municipality | 121,906 | ||
• Density | 2,146/km2 (5,560/sq mi) | ||
• Urban | 121,906 | ||
• Metro | 182,721 | ||
Urban and metro population for Dutch area only, thus excluding Belgian environs | |||
Demonym(s) | (Dutch) Maastrichtenaar; (Limb.) Mestreechteneer or Sjeng |
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Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
• Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
Postcode | 6200–6229 | ||
Area code | 043 | ||
Website | www |
Maastricht (Dutch: [maːˈstrɪxt];Limburgish (incl. Maastrichtian): Mestreech [məˈstʀeˑx]; French: Maestricht (archaic); Spanish: Mastrique (archaic)) is a town and a municipality in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is the capital city of the province of Limburg.
Maastricht is located on both sides of the Meuse river (Dutch: Maas), at the point where the Jeker River (French: Geer) joins it.
Maastricht developed from a Roman settlement to a Medieval religious centre, a garrison town and an early industrial city. Today, Maastricht is well-regarded as an affluent cultural center. Maastricht has 1677 national heritage sites (Rijksmonumenten), which is the second highest number in a Dutch town, after Amsterdam. It has become known, by way of the Maastricht Treaty, as the birthplace of the European Union, European citizenship, and the single European currency, the euro. The town is popular with tourists for shopping and recreation, and has a large growing international student population. Maastricht is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network and is part of the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion, which includes nearby cities Aachen, Eupen, Hasselt, Liège and Tongeren.