In the city of Utrecht, Netherlands

 + It is hard not to fall in love with Utrecht, one of the Netherlands' oldest urban centers, and for centuries its religious heart.

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(in the center of mainland Netherlands, also known as Holland; "Netherlands” means low-lying country; the name Holland (from Houtland, or “Wooded Land”) was originally given to one of the medieval cores of what became the modern state and is still used for 2 of its provinces. The Netherlands’ southern and eastern region consists mostly of plains and a few high ridges; its western and northern region includes polders on the site of the Zuiderzee and the common delta of the Rhine, Meuse, and Schelde rivers.

+ Featured here is the city of Utrecht, the site of successive Roman, Frisian, and Frankish fortresses, it became an episcopal see in 696 under St. Willibrord. It was most prosperous during the 11th and 12th centuries, when it was an important commercial center. In 1527 it was transferred to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and became part of the Habsburg dominions. It was ruled by Spain until the 1570s, Occupied by the French (1795–1813), it was the residence of Louis Bonaparte, king of Holland.

+ Celtic and Germanic tribes inhabited the region at the time of the Roman conquest;a Germanic invasion (406–407) ended Roman control. The Merovingian dynasty followed the Romans but was supplanted in the 7th century by the Carolingian dynasty, which converted the area to Christianity. After Charlemagne’s death in 814, the area became part of the medieval kingdom of Lotharingia. Beginning in the 12th century, much land was reclaimed from the sea; The dukes of Burgundy gained control in the late 14th century. By the early 16th century the Low Countries were ruled by the Spanish Habsburgs. The Dutch had taken the lead in fishing and shipbuilding, which laid the foundation for Holland’s remarkable 17th-century prosperity. In 1581 the northern provinces declared independence from Spain, and in 1648, Spain recognized Dutch independence. The 17th century was the golden age of Dutch civilization. . The region was conquered by the French during the French revolutionary wars and became the Kingdom of Holland under Napoleon.

+ The Netherlands remained neutral in WWI and declared neutrality in WWII. It joined NATO in 1949 and was a founding member of the European Economic Community and is now embedded in the EU. Until it was overtaken by Amsterdam in the Dutch Golden age, Utrecht was the most important city in the Netherlands. Most prominent of the historic buildings is the Gothic Cathedral of Saint Martin, the construction of which lasted for almost 200 years, beginning in 1254. Now a university city, the medieval core radiates out from the Domtoren, ringed by a loop of canals, Utrecht's old city center has many structures, some dating to the Middle Ages. Utrecht was the most important city in the Netherlands until the Dutch Golden Age, when it was surpassed by Amsterdam as the country's cultural center.