SW AW-070 Limburg - the most southernmost province of Netherlands

Limburg is the southernmost of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands. To its west is another Limburg, the Flemish province of Belgium. Limburg's major cities are the provincial capital Maastricht in the south, Roermond in the middle and Venlo in the north, all upon the Meuse river.

Limburg has a highly distinctive character. The social and economic trends that affected the province in recent decades generated a process of change and renewal which has enabled Limburg to transform its peripheral location into a highly globalized regional nexus, linking the Netherlands to the Ruhr metro area and the southern part of the Benelux region. A less appreciated consequence of this international gateway location is rising international crime, often drug-related, especially in the southernmost part of the province.

Limburg has its own language, called Limburgish (Dutch: Limburgs). This has been an official regional language since 1997. Limburgish is spoken by an estimated 1.6 million people in both Dutch and Belgian Limburg and Germany. There are many different dialects of Limburgish; almost every town and village has its own.

This postcard has the map of Limburg in the central panel. The left top panel shows the plaza in front of the Basilica of Our Lady in Maastricht.   The bottom left panel shows the highest point in continental Netherlands (excluding the Antilles) - Vaalserberg - this location is also a marker for the 3-country point (where Germany, Belgium and Netherlands meet). The top right panel shows Munsterkerk (Munster), an old 13th century Our Lady church in Roermond.

This postcard came from Sonja Joosten (2 May 2014) Swat-bot.