Every design for Maastricht

Maastricht takes its name from a crossing: Mosa Trajectum, the place to ford the Maas. People have lived here without interruption for two thousand years, and the town grew from a Roman settlement into a medieval centre of river trade and faith, a garrison town in the sixteenth century and an early industrial city in the nineteenth. In more recent history it lent its name to the treaty that shaped the European Union and paved the way for the euro.

The Schatkamer van de Sint-Servaasbasiliek holds some of the treasures that made Maastricht a religious centre for so long, and it is only one of the city's many layers. The Helpoort and Fort Sint Pieter recall the old defences, and the Bonnefantenmuseum adds a collection of its own. Few Dutch cities hold as many national heritage buildings; only Amsterdam has more.

For anyone who grew up here, the map is familiar ground: the river cutting through the middle, the Jeker joining it, the Sint-Pietersberg rising to the south. Locals call themselves Mestreechteneer, or simply Sjeng, and this map is theirs.