City
|official_name | Best
|image_map |
() is a
municipality and a village in the southern
Netherlands. It's situated northwest of the city
Eindhoven, and Best is also part of the agglomeration of this city. The village was part of a neighbourhood town, called
Oirschot but, as Best was situated on the state road from
Amsterdam to
Maastricht, this often gave extra difficulties. Each time a troop of soldiers wanted to stay for a while in Best, they had to request this 10 km away, in Oirschot to be allowed. This made
The Hague decide to separate Best in
1819.
Back in the Roman time, people had lived in Best, based on archaeological excavations around the village. The first written text about Best dates back to about 775 AC, which reads: ''uijt eene edele stamme onder de Franken werd Sint Odulphus, patroonheilige van Best, geboren.'' This means: from a noble tribe under the Francs Saint Odulphus, patron of Best, was born. The tale goes his birth place is at the same place on which now the Saint Odulphus church is built.
Two centuries ago, Best itself didn't yet exist. There were three small villages: Naastenbest, in the west, Wilhelminadorp, in the south and Verrenbest, at where now the Oranjestraat is. They grew together, and formed the village with the name Best.
In
1866, Best got a train station on the line Rotterdam - Breda - Boxtel - Helmond - Venlo - Maastricht. First the line had one track, but soon there was too much traffic and the line became double tracked. But in the
1980s this again wasn't enough anymore so since
2002 the station has had four tracks. Also is it today possible to travel to Best from Utrecht or Eindhoven by train. However, traveling by plane is much more efficient.
The head quarters of
Philips Medical Systems is located in Best.
One can take a bus (line numbers 141/142/144) from the
Eindhoven central station to Best.