Arnhem is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It's the capital of the province of Gelderland and located near the river Lower Rhine as well as near the St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 142,634 residents (per January 1, 2007) and with that, it's the second largest city of the province Gelderland, after Nijmegen (≈ 160,000) as well as one of the 10 largest cities in the Netherlands. The municipality is part of the city region Arnhem-Nijmegen, a metropolitan area with 722,181 inhabitants.

Arnhem
The name Arnhem comes from Arneym, which in turn comes from Arentheem or the Latin Arenacum. This literally means "home of the eagle" (arend means eagle in Dutch) and stems from the many eagles that used to inhabit the hills and the woods of Arnhem. The name Arneym is first mentioned in 893 by the monastery Sint-Salvatorabdij. The naam Arenacum, the first mention of the area which became known as Arnhem, comes from the Roman era and means "with eagles".

Èrnem
Èrnem is the name of the city in the local dialect, South Guelderish. In everyday life, the name is not often used by the inhabitants of Arnhem, who seldom speak with the Arnhemian accent/dialect any more. This accent is now mainly confined to the working class areas.

Arnheim
Arnheim is the German name for Arnhem; it more clearly refers to the origin of the name (heim = home).

Worldwar II
In World War II, during Operation Market Garden (September 1944), the British 1st Airborne Division and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were given the task of securing the bridge at Arnhem. The units were parachuted and glider-landed into the area on September 17 and later. The bulk of the force was dropped rather far from the bridge and never met their objective. A small force of British 1st Airborne managed to make their way as far as the bridge but was unable to secure both sides. The Allied troops encountered stiff resistance from the German 9th and 10th SS Panzer divisions, which had been stationed in and around the city.

The British force at the bridge eventually surrendered on September 21, and a full withdrawal of the remaining forces was made on September 26. These events were dramatized in the 1977 movie A Bridge Too Far. (The bridge scenes in the movie were shot in Deventer, where a similar bridge over the IJssel was available, as the area around Arnhem bridge had changed too much to represent WWII era Arnhem). As a tribute, the rebuilt bridge was renamed 'John Frost-bridge' after the commander of the paratroopers. The official commemoration is September 16.

The current bridge is the third almost-identical bridge built at the same spot. The Dutch Army destroyed the first bridge when the Germans invaded Holland in 1940. The second bridge was destroyed by the US Army Air Forces shortly after the 1944 battle.

A second battle of Arnhem took place in April 1945 when the city was liberated by I Canadian Corps of the First Canadian Army.

Places of interest

The Groote Kerk (St. Eusebius), built 1452–1560, lost most of its tower during World War II, of which a part has been reconstructed to a modern design and opened in 1964. Officially the tower is not part of the church and is owned by the municipality.

The house of Maarten van Rossum, a general serving Duke Charles van Gelre, has been the town hall since 1830: The satyrs in its Renaissance ornamentation earned it the name Duivelshuis ("devil's house").

The National Heritage Museum (Nederlands Openluchtmuseum) is located outside the city. It is an open air museum and park with antique houses, farms, and factories from different parts of the Netherlands.

Burgers' Zoo is the biggest and most-visited zoo in the Netherlands, featuring an underwater walkthrough, desert, mangrove, rainforest, etc.

The Gelredome, the home field of Vitesse, the city's Eredivisie side in football, is a unique facility that features a retractable roof and a slide-out grass pitch. The concept has been fully duplicated since then by Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, USA, and partially by the Sapporo Dome in Japan (which has a sliding pitch but a fixed roof).

The KEMA Toren (formerly known as SEP Control Tower) is the highest structure of the town. It is a 140-m-high TV tower.

The Korenmarkt is the nightlife area. On this square and surrounding streets lie clubs, bars and a movie theater. It's a very popular area for the residents and visitors. In summer it's filled with tables and chairs from all the bars and a lot of people can be found here sitting in the sun and enjoying a drink.