Maastricht

Limburg's Provincial Government has its seat in the Provincial Government Buildings located along the river Meuse in Maastricht, the oldest city in the Netherlands. Maastricht, or Mosae Trajectum, was founded by the Romans two thousand years ago along the military and trade route between Gaul, now France, and the military reinforcements along the Rhine. Maastricht has more than 1450 monuments and historic buildings which, after Amsterdam, is more than in any other city in the Netherlands. The city square known as the Vrijthof has great historical significance, flanked to the west by the Basilica of St. Servatius, the oldest church in the country and named after Maastricht's patron saint. The shrine of St. Servatius was for centuries the focus of pilgrimages from allover Europe. Charlemagne (742-814) also went on pilgrimages here from his residence near Aachen, and Charles V (1500-1558) of ten stayed at the Spanish Government House, also located in Vrijthof square.
Maastricht was equally significant as a fortified city. Napoleon and Czar Peter the Great of Russia came to admire the fortifications. Maastricht has always had a strong European orientation. In recent decades, the city has developed into one of the new European centres with, among other things, a large number of international institutes in the fields of public administration, medical technology, the labour market and communications. National governments, the European Union, the United Nations, academie centres, and large organizations all make use of the singular knowledge network present in Maastricht. Limburg's provincial capital has also gained an international reputation as a conference centre, particularly due to the facilities offered by the Maastricht Exhibition & Congress Centre (MECC). Maastricht has twice been the venue for a European Summit of EU leaders. On the last occasion in 1991, held at the Provincial Government Buildings on the Meuse, the city's name was forever linked to the Maastricht Treaty, one of the most important agreements within the framework of the process of European integration.