Editing Utrecht (section)

===Modern history (1815–present)===
[[File:Een uitzinnige menigte verwelkomt de Canadese bevrijders in Utrecht - An ecstatic crowd in Utrecht welcomes the Canadian liberators (4502667274).jpg|thumb|upright|People celebrating the [[Liberation Day (Netherlands)|liberation of Utrecht]] at the end of [[World War II]] on 7 May 1945. [[Amersfoort]]?]]
[[File:Lange Elisabethstraat Mariaplaats, 3511 Utrecht, Netherlands - panoramio.jpg|thumb|left|Zadelstraat (Saddlers' Street), Utrecht, with Dom Tower in the background, 2009]]
[[File:Utrecht-plaats-OpenTopo.jpg|left|thumb|Contemporary map of Utrecht with the new suburb [[Leidsche Rijn]] ([[De Meern]]) to the left, 2014]]

In the early 19th century, the role of Utrecht as a fortified town had become obsolete. The fortifications of the [[Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie]] were moved east of Utrecht. The town walls could now be demolished to allow for expansion. The moats remained intact and formed an important feature of the Zocher plantsoen, an [[English garden|English style landscape park]] that remains largely intact today. Growth of the city increased when, in 1843, a railway connecting Utrecht to Amsterdam was opened. After that, Utrecht gradually became the main hub of the [[Train routes in the Netherlands|Dutch railway network]]. With the [[Industrial Revolution]] finally gathering speed in the Netherlands and the ramparts taken down, Utrecht began to grow far beyond its medieval centre. When the Dutch government allowed the bishopric of Utrecht to be reinstated by [[Roman Catholic Church|Rome]] in 1853, Utrecht became the centre of Dutch Catholicism once more. From the 1880s onward, neighbourhoods such as Oudwijk, [[Wittevrouwen]], Vogelenbuurt to the East, and Lombok to the West were developed. New middle-class residential areas, such as Tuindorp and [[Oog in Al]], were built in the 1920s and 1930s. During this period, several [[Jugendstil]] houses and office buildings were built, followed by [[Gerrit Rietveld|Rietveld]] who built the [[Rietveld Schröder House]] (1924), and [[Willem Marinus Dudok|Dudok]]'s construction of the city theatre (1941).

[[File:Oudegracht 158.JPG|thumb|The [[Winkel van Sinkel]], the first department store in the Netherlands. Oudegracht, Utrecht, 2010]]

During [[World War II]], Utrecht was held by German forces until the general German surrender of the Netherlands on 5 May 1945. [[British army|British]] and [[Canadian Army|Canadian]] troops that had surrounded the city entered it after that surrender, on 7 May 1945. Following the end of World War II, the city grew considerably when new neighbourhoods such as [[Overvecht]], [[Kanaleneiland]], {{Interlanguage link multi|Hoograven|nl}} and [[Lunetten]] were built. Around 2000, the [[Leidsche Rijn]] area was developed as an extension of the city to the west.{{Cn|date=April 2023}}<ref>KILLICK, UTRECHT BY STEVE. "Green Heart Beat Intruders." ''FT.com'' (2002): 1. ''ProQuest.'' Web. 25 Mar. 2025.</ref><ref>''PUBLIC EYE; the Unzipped 'Zipper': PUBLIC EYE''. New York: New York Times Company, 1999. ''ProQuest.'' Web. 25 Mar. 2025.</ref>

The area surrounding [[Utrecht Centraal railway station]] and the station itself were developed following modernist ideas of the 1960s, in a [[Brutalist architecture|brutalist]] style. This development led to the construction of the shopping mall {{Interlanguage link multi|Hoog Catharijne|nl}}, the music centre Vredenburg ([[Herman Hertzberger|Hertzberger]], 1979), and conversion of part of the ancient canal structure into a highway ([[Catharijnesingel|Catherijnebaan]]). Protest against further modernisation of the city centre followed even before the last buildings were finalised. In the early 21st century, the whole area is undergoing change again. The redeveloped music centre TivoliVredenburg opened in 2014 with the original Vredenburg and Tivoli concert and rock and jazz halls brought together in a single building.  {{Clear}}