Katwijk aan den Rijn

Katwijk (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkɑtʋɛik] (listen)), also spelled Katwyk, is a coastal municipality and town in the province of South Holland, which is situated in the mid-western part of the Netherlands. The Oude Rijn ("Old Rhine") river flows through the town and into the North Sea. Katwijk is located on the North Sea, northwest of Leiden and 16 km north of The Hague. It shares its borders with the municipalities of Noordwijk, Teylingen, Oegstgeest, Leiden, and Wassenaar. In August 2020, Katwijk had a population of 65.929 and covers an area of 31.15 km2 (12.03 sq mi), of which 6.40 km2 (2.47 sq mi) is water. Katwijk is by far the largest town in the Duin- en Bollenstreek ("Dune and Bulb Region").

Rijnsburg (Dutch: [ˈrɛinzbʏr(ə)x] (listen)) is a village in the eastern part of the municipality of Katwijk, in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The name means Rhine's Burg in Dutch.

Praetorium Agrippinae was a Roman settlement in the province of Lower Germania, in the area of the Cananefates, located in modern-day Valkenburg, Netherlands. It was an army encampment (Lat.: castellum) on the Old Rhine (at the time the major branch of the river Rhine), on the northern border of the Roman Empire, the limes. Praetorium Agrippinae is mentioned on the Tabula Peutingeriana between the castella of Matilo in the east and Lugdunum Batavorum to the west.

Rijnsburg Abbey (Dutch: Abdij van Rijnsburg) was a Benedictine nunnery in Rijnsburg, Netherlands, active between 1133 until 1574.

Valkenburg ([ˈvɑlkə(m)bʏr(ə)x] (listen)) is a village and former municipality in the province of South Holland, in the western Netherlands. Valkenburg is now part of the municipality Katwijk and had a population of 3,900 in 2006.On 1 January 2006, Valkenburg and Rijnsburg were merged into the municipality of Katwijk. The former municipality of Valkenburg had about 3878 inhabitants (1 June 2005) and a surface area of 15.74 km2 (6.08 sq mi) of which 0.23 km2 (0.09 sq mi) is water. On the second Wednesday in September there is a horse market, the oldest in the Netherlands. 2010 marked its 1066th year of operation. The former Valkenburg Naval Air Base, which was situated here since 1936, was closed in 2006.

The European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) is the European Space Agency's main technology development and test centre for spacecraft and space technology. It is situated in Noordwijk, South Holland, in the western Netherlands, although several kilometers off the village but immediately linked to the most Northern district of the nearby town Katwijk. At ESTEC, about 2500 engineers, technicians and scientists work hands-on with mission design, spacecraft and space technology. ESTEC provides extensive testing facilities to verify the proper operation of spacecraft, such as the Large Space Simulator (LSS), acoustic and electromagnetic testing bays, multi-axis vibration tables and the ESA Propulsion Laboratory (EPL). Prior to launch, almost all of the equipment that ESA launches is tested in some degree at ESTEC. The Space Expo is ESTEC's visitors centre. It has a permanent exhibition about space exploration.

The European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS) is a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA), the European space industry represented by Eurospace, and several space agencies, to develop and maintain a coherent, single set of user-friendly standards for use in all European space activities. Established in 1993 following a call by Eurospace to unify space products assurance standardization on a European level, it was officially adopted by the ESA on 23 June 1994 through the resolution ESA/C/CXIII/Res.1, to replace its own Procedures, Specifications and Standards (PSS) system. The ECSS currently has 139 active standards, forming the ECSS system. These standards cover management, engineering, product assurance, and space sustainability disciplines. The ECSS is managed by the ESA Requirement and Standard Division, based in the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. The ECSS maintains connections with multiple European and international standardization organizations, to contribute to standardization and to adopt relevant standards as part of the ECSS system.

The Nieuwe Kerk ("New Church") in Katwijk, the Netherlands, is the oldest and best known work of the architect H.J. Jesse (1860–1943). It was built to replace the nearby Andreaskerk, which had become too small.

Valkenburg Naval Air Base (Dutch: Vliegkamp Valkenburg) (IATA: LID, ICAO: EHVB) is a former air base located just south of Valkenburg, which is part of Katwijk and close to the city of Leiden, that was used by the Royal Netherlands Navy until 2006, being their base for the Lockheed P-3 Orion aircraft. The Orions were sold to Germany and Portugal, resulting in the closure of the air base. Though officially closed as an airport, it still sees limited use for special events and by gliders and occasionally small piston aircraft, most from the local flying club Aeroclub Valkenburg. Current plans are to use the area for housing development, but part of the former air base may remain in use for glider flying.

Katwijk aan Zee (literally, Katwijk-upon-Sea) is a seaside resort located on the North Sea at the mouth of the Oude Rijn. It is situated in the municipality of Katwijk and the province of South Holland.

The Oude Rijn (Old Rhine) is a branch of the Rhine delta in the Dutch provinces of Utrecht and South Holland, starting west of Utrecht, at Harmelen and runs by a mechanical pumping station into the North Sea at Katwijk. Its present-day length is 52 kilometres. In ancient times, the river was the lower part of the main Rhine branch, forking at Batavia Island, now Betuwe, in a northern branche, Rhine and southern branche Maas. It was much broader and was influenced by sea-tides. During occupation of the Romans the river formed part of the northern border of the Roman Empire. In medieval times, river Lek became the main draining river for Rhinewater and the Old Rhine was silting. The river still was important as draining river for the surrounding lowlands, for clay-industry and as a transport and trade route. Ships were towed by horse- and humanpower, using a towpath along large sections of the river, many parts of which have been upgraded to (cycling-)roads over time.

Brittenburg was a Roman ruin site west of Leiden between Katwijk aan Zee and Noordwijk aan Zee, presumably identical to the even older Celtic Lugdunum fortress. The site is first mentioned in 1401, was uncovered more completely by storm erosion in 1520, 1552 and 1562, and has subsequently been entirely eroded away. When built, it was located at the mouth of the Oude Rijn (old river Rhine), which has since moved. The site was about a kilometre west of the European Space Research and Technology Centre, now offshore in the North Sea).