Vaalserberg
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The Vaalserberg (Script error: No such module "IPA".; Template:Langx Script error: No such module "IPA".) is a hill with a height of Script error: No such module "convert".[1] above NAP that is the highest point in the European part of the Netherlands. The Vaalserberg is located in the province of Limburg, at the south-easternmost edge of the country, near the town of Vaals (after which it is named).
The Vaalserberg was the highest point anywhere in the Netherlands until the Caribbean island of Saba, with its Script error: No such module "convert". volcano, was incorporated into the country as a "special municipality" in 2010.
Three-country point
The Vaalserberg is also the location of the tripoint between Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and so its summit is called the Template:Interlanguage link ("three country point") in Dutch, Dreiländereck ("three country corner") in German and Trois Frontières ("three borders") or Trois Bornes ("three border stones") in French.
On the Belgian side, the tripoint borders the region of Wallonia, including both the regular French-speaking area and the smaller German-speaking area. The German side falls within the city limits of Aachen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Between 1830 and 1919, the summit was a quadripoint, also bordering Neutral Moresnet, which is now part of Belgium's German-speaking area.
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The current Belgian-German border is not the same as the former eastern border of Moresnet with Prussia but is a little more to the east. Therefore, five different borders came together at this point but never more than four at one time, except possibly between 1917 and 1920, when the border situation was unclear and disputed.
The border intersection has made the Vaalserberg a well-known tourist attraction in the Netherlands, with a Script error: No such module "convert". tower on the Belgian side (Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx), opened in 1994 to replace the previous Script error: No such module "convert". tower, built in 1970. It offers a grand panorama of the surrounding landscape.
Script error: No such module "convert". south of the point, a railway crosses the German-Belgian border in the Template:Interlanguage link. It is the freight-only railway between Tongeren and Aachen.
In 2025, Esperantists launched an initiative to rename the Vaalserberg to Monto Zamenhof, in order to draw attention to the history of Amikejo, a proposed Esperanto-speaking state in the former Neutral Moresnet, and to honour the founder of the Esperanto language, L. L. Zamenhof.[2][3] The Universal Esperanto Association officially supports the initiative.[4]
Four-borders road
The road leading up to this point on the Dutch side is called the Viergrenzenweg ("four borders way"), probably because of the former territory of Neutral Moresnet. The names of the roads in Belgium (Route des Trois Bornes) and Germany (Dreiländerweg) refer to the present three bordering countries.[5]
Along the road on the Dutch side is the Script error: No such module "convert". Template:Ill observation tower, with a restaurant and forest trails. The present tower officially opened on 7 October 2011 and features a lift and a glass floor. The first tower at the site was built in 1905 during the reign of its namesake, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and was demolished in 1945. The second Script error: No such module "convert". tower opened on 11 August 1951 and was demolished over the winter of 2010–2011 because of its poor condition and high maintenance requirements.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Road cycling
The Vaalserberg is often used in the Template:Interlanguage link and is climbed halfway through the race. The climb is named in the roadbook of the Gold Race as Drielandenpunt and crosses the border with Belgium and followed after is the Gemmenich climb to go into the Netherlands again. The Belgian climb part (or descent) is called Côte des Trois bornes or Côte des Trois Frontières and includes two hairpin bends. It starts from Gemmenich with the roadname Route des Trois Bornes.
See also
References
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- ↑ Template:In lang J.A. te Pas, Nederland van laag tot hoog, NGT Geodesia 1987 nr. 7/8 pp. 273-275
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- ↑ See Google Maps showing street names
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Script error: No such module "Side box". 'Tim Travel': Holland's highest mountain (& the strange story of Neutral-Moresnet) (YouTube)
- Pages with script errors
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- Highest points of countries
- Border tripoints
- Belgium–Germany border crossings
- Belgium–Netherlands border crossings
- Germany–Netherlands border crossings
- Mountains and hills of the Ardennes (Belgium)
- Mountains and hills of the Eifel
- Mountains and hills of the Netherlands
- Mountains and hills of Liège Province
- Mountains and hills of North Rhine-Westphalia
- Hills of South Limburg (Netherlands)
- German-speaking Community of Belgium
- Aachen
- Kelmis
- Vaals
- Quadripoints and higher
- Neutral Moresnet