Market Square in Middelburg

Middelburg is my home town as well as my favorite town in our province. The big city hall shown in the panorama gives a hint as to why that is.

I simply love monumental buildings and architectural diversity, and Middelburg is full of it. The market square shown in the panorama is not the spot with the best looking facades in town but it gives a good insight on the diversity in architectural styles. Most of the inner town is quite old, some houses date back from the 14th century. Granted, there are not many that old, but ever since then almost all houses were built differently. Often designed around the oddities of narrow or non-square ground space. The smallest house in Middelburg for example, is 7 meters long but just 2 meters wide!

Sadly, almost everything built in the second half of the 20th century looks exactly the same. Big complexes and suburban districts with rows and rows of similar houses. Some even built in a maze-like layout, to add to the confusion.

It is a paradox to me; we have gotten so much wealthier the last century, but somehow our houses seem to get less attractive and smaller every decade. Real estate prices probably have a part in this. That's what you get when you live in one of the most densely populated countries of the world, I guess...

Nevertheless Middelburg is very careful about its monuments, and rightfully so!

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Europe / Netherlands

Lat: 51° 29' 54.68" N
Long: 3° 36' 42.36" E

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.

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