Every design for Geleen

Geleen is known as a mining town that became a chemicals town. The Staatsmijn Maurits, once the biggest coal mine in Europe, turned a cluster of hamlets into a city, and when the mines closed, DSM stayed on to make chemicals instead. Daily life still runs between the old cores of Oud-Geleen, Lutterade and Krawinkel and the town hall that was built between them as the start of a new centre.

Ask around and someone will bring up Pinkpop, held in the Burgemeester Damen Sportpark from 1970 until 1986, with the artists cooling off backstage in the swimming pool next door. Others think of the Geleenbeek, the Glana of the Romans, of the annual fair a week after Whitsun, or of a walk up the Mauritsberg past De Koempel.

On the map you can trace the way from the station at Lutterade to the Kaolepark, routes that anyone who grew up in Geleen has walked more times than they could count.