NYMEGEN NIMEGUEN

NIJMWEGEN  Or NIMWEGEN, a town in the province of Gelderland, Holland, on the left bank of the Waal, 242 M. by rail E. by S. of Tiel . It has regular steamboat communication with Rotterdam, Cologne and Arnhem, and steam-tramways connect it with the popular resorts of Neerbosch, Beek and Berg-en-Dal in the vicinity . Pop . (1904) 49,342 . Nijmwegen is very prettily situated on the slopes of five low hills rising from the river-side . It stands up with a boldness quite unusual in a Dutch town, and steps are even necessary to lead to the higher portions of the town . In 1877–1884 the old town walls were demolished, a promenade and gardens taking their place. and since then a new quarter has grown up on the south side with a fine open place called the Emperor Charles's Plain . On the east of the town is the beautiful park called the Valkhof, which marks the site of the old palace of the Carolingian emperors . The palace was still inhabitable in 1787, but was ruined by the Fregch bombardment of 1794, and only two portions of it remain . These are a part of the choir of the 12th-century palaceehurch, and a sixteen-sided baptistry originally consecrated by Pope Leo III. in 799 and rebuilt in the 12th or 13th century . Close by is the lofty tower of the Belvedere, dating from 1646 . The Groote Kerk of St Stephen forms with its tall square tower one of the most striking features in the general views of the town .

Originally built about 1272, it

dates in its present condition mainly from the 15th and 16th centuries . In the choir is the fine monument of Catherine of Bourbon (d . 1469), wife of Adolphus of Egmont, duke of Gelderland, with a brass of the duchess, and the heraldic achievements of the house of Bourbon . There is also a fine organ . The interesting Renaissance town-hall was built in 1554 (restored in 1879) . It is adorned with the effigies of kings and emperors who were once benefactors of Nijmwegen . Inside are to be found some fine wood-carving, tapestries, pictures and a cumbrous safe in which the town charters were so jealously preserved that the garrison used to be called out and the city gates closed whenever they were consulted . There is also an interesting museum of antiquities . Other buildings of note are the theatre (1839), the Protestant hospital, the Roman Catholic or Canisius hospital (1866), and the old weigh-house arid Flesher's Hall, probably built in 1612 and restored in 1885 . Between 1656 and 1678 Nijmwegen was the seat of a university . Beer, Prussian blue, leather, tin, pottery, cigars, and gold and silver work are the chief industrial products, and there is a considerable trade by rail and river .