Maastricht

Maastricht is a city and a municipality in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the Meuse (Dutch: Maas), at the point where the Jeker joins it. It is adjacent to the border with Belgium.

Maastricht Mestreech  (Limburgish)
City and municipality
From top to bottom, left to right: Meuse river in winter · Town Hall by night · sidewalk cafés at Onze Lieve Vrouweplein · Saint Servatius Bridge · Our Lady, Star of the Sea chapel · St. John's and St. Servatius' churches at Vrijthof square · View from Mount Saint Peter

Maastricht developed from a Roman settlement to a Medieval religious centre. In the 16th century it became a garrison town and in the 19th century an early industrial city.^[9] Today, the town is a thriving cultural and regional hub. It became well-known through the Maastricht Treaty and as the birthplace of the euro.^[10] Maastricht has 1677 national heritage buildings (Rijksmonumenten), the second highest number in the Netherlands, after Amsterdam. The town is popular with tourists for shopping and recreation, and has a large international student population. Maastricht is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network^[11] and is part of the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion, which includes the nearby German and Belgian cities of Aachen, Eupen, Hasselt, Liège, and Tongeren. The Meuse-Rhine Euroregion is a metropolis with a population of about 3.9 million with several international universities.