Voorburg

From Freepedia

Voorburg is a town in the municipality of Leidschendam-Voorburg in the province of South Holland of the Netherlands.

The cities of Leidschendam and Voorburg are now merged together under the new city name "Leidschendam-Voorburg". Situated adjecent to the city of The Hague they are often regarded as its suburb.

Voorburg, the most densely populated of the three towns in the municipality, has its roots in the 2nd century A.D., when the Romans built the stronghold Forum Hadriani there. They also dug the canal, which is now known as the Vliet and is still very characteristic for Voorburg.

Famous inhabitants of Voorburg include 17th century author and poet Constantijn Huygens, who spent many years building his small country house Hofwijck with adjacent geometrically shaped gardens alongside the Vliet. His son, famous astronomer and mathematician Christiaan Huygens, also spent several years in his father's Voorburg country house. The house, located next to the main railway station, now functions as a museum. Spinoza also lived in Voorburg from 1663 to 1670.

Voorburg hosts the major branch of the country's statistics institute, the CBS, which provides most of the statistical data used by the government.