Free city Vianen

A 15-minute drive from the city of Utrecht is the cosy town of Vianen. A medieval town surrounded by water and greenery and where it is good to spend time at the terraces along the Voorstraat. Where the surroundings offer ample walking and cycling routes in a special polder landscape. And don't have time to explore everything in one day? Then stay a night at one of the unique overnight locations in Vianen.

In Free Town Vianen, you will find the outline of Castle Batestein, once one of the most beautiful castles in the Netherlands and inhabited by the lords Van Brederode. Hendrik van Brederode, also known as the Great Geus, took the lead in 1566, together with William of Orange and Louis of Nassau, in presenting the petition to Margaret of Parma with two hundred nobles. In doing so, they opposed the Spanish Inquisition. The offering of this 'petition of the nobles' was part of a series of events that would lead to the Eighty Years' War.

In 1696, the castle was destroyed by fire and all that remains are the Hofpoort and a pump on Hofplein. Very likely, both monuments were designed at the time by the most famous architect of the 17th century: Jacob van Campen.
On the church square with his back almost against the Grote Kerk stands the statue of Hendrik van Brederode since 1997. The bronze statue by Utrecht sculptor Paulus Reinhard commemorates the link between the Brederode family and the city of Vianen.

The Lekpoort is Vianen's only remaining city gate. Together with the Oostpoort and Landpoort, this gate formed the access route to the walled city centre until the 19th century. In the 14th century, this gate is nothing more than a simple rectangular passageway with two towers. Around 1500, it was replaced by the current two-storey gate.

Besides being a church, the Grote Kerk in Vianen is also the final resting place for at least 24 members of the Van Vianen and Van Brederode families.

The oldest reference to Vianen is a document from 1271 in which Zweder I of Beusichem was granted permission to hold a market twice a year at his castle Vyanen. There was no mention of the town of Vianen back then. It came into existence in the following years in the shadow of the castle. In 1370, Gijsbert van Beusichem, lord of Vianen and grandson of Zweder I of Beusichem, demolished the castle. Using the old stones, he built a new castle: Batestein Castle.

Until the early 15th century, it was not the lords of Vianen who were the most important rulers in the Vijfheerenlanden, but the lords Van Arkel. This family owned several, strategically located castles in the region that together formed a strong line of defence. Hagestein Castle in Gasperden (present-day Hagestein), together with Everstein Castle, formed the focal point of this line.