Heemskerk

Geschiedenis

Heemskerk is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is located in the Kennemerland region.Local governmentAs of March 2014, the municipal council of Heemskerk consists of 25 seats, which are divided as follows: Christian Democratic Appeal - 5 seats Heemskerk Lokaal - 5 seats Liberaal Heemskerk - 5 seats Democrats 66 - 4 seats Labour Party - 4 seats Green Left- 2 seats The CDA, Heemskerk Lokaal, Liberaal Heemskerk and D66 form the governing coalition. The (non-elected) mayor of Heemskerk is currently Mieke Baltus (CDA).HistoryIt is not certain where the name of Heemskerk comes from. The town was already known during the Middle Ages. In an official deed from the year of 1063, the town was known as Hemezen Kyrica, Latinized Frisian meaning Church of Hemezen, a Frisian nun who lived in a religious house there. Heemskerk knows many historical monuments, among them the Huldtoneel (lit. the "Inaugurate Stage"), an artificial hill located near the current Rijksstraatweg, where once the Counts of Holland where inaugurated. According to tradition, the Huldtoneel was used before the Roman Era as a Germanic sanctuary. In the nineteenth century Jonkheer Gevers finally made the Huldtoneel a monument - as it is known today - and ordered passers-by to honour the monument.