1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/'s Hertogenbosch

’S HERTOGENBOSCH (’sBosch, or den Bosch, French Bois-le-Duc), the capital of the province of North Brabant, Holland, at the confluence of the rivers Dommel and Aa, which unite to form the Dieze, and a junction station 291/2 m. S.S.E. of Utrecht and 271/2 m. W.S.W. of Nijmwegen by rail. It is connected by steam tramway with Helmond (21 m. S.E.) and by the Zuid-Willem’s canal with Maastricht (60 m. S. by E.). Pop. (1900) 32,345. ’s Hertogenbosch is a well-built city and contains several churches. The Roman Catholic cathedral of St John, the Janskerk, with its interior in a state of preservation rare in Holland, is one of the finest architecturally in the country. Occupying the site of a much earlier building, of which there are remains, the present church with its fine choir was built in the middle of the 15th century. The 15th-century font, the pulpit (1570), the organ (1617), and the early Gothic Lady chapel containing a much venerated 13th-century image of the Virgin, which was annually carried in procession through the town, are all noticeable. The choir-screen was sold to the South Kensington Museum in London for £900, this sum being devoted to the work of modern restoration. The town hall contains an interesting series of decorative panels by a modern artist, A. Derkinderen, describing the founding of the city. It also includes a museum of local antiquities. In the Provincial museum are interesting Roman, German and Frankish antiquities. The principal other buildings are the court house, government buildings (formerly a Jesuit monastery), episcopal palace, grammar school (once attended by Erasmus), a prison, hospitals, arsenal and barracks. 's Hertogenbosch is the market of the fertile Meiery district, and carries on a considerable trade, chiefly by water, with Dordrecht and Rotterdam, Nijmwegen, Amhem, Maastricht and Liège. The chief industries include distilleries, breweries, glass works, cigar factories and the ancient linen and cutlery manufactures.