Roermond and the Maasplassen

Roermond stands where the Roer meets the Meuse in central Limburg, a town with rights since 1231 and a centre protected in its entirety as a conservation area. For centuries it was a principal town of the duchy of Guelders, and it has been the seat of a Catholic diocese since 1559, which is why its skyline belongs to two churches, St Christopher’s Cathedral and the Romanesque Munsterkerk. Celts lived on both banks of the Roer before the Romans bridged it. West of the town the Maasplassen, a broad chain of lakes left by gravel extraction, carry most of the region’s sailing and waterside walking.