Send Gift Baskets to Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands

Alphen aan den Rijn is one of the oldest settlements in the world. During the Roman era, the Oude Rijn acted as the main branch of the Rhine River and formed the Empire’s northern border. The Roman army has been stationed here since the rule of Emperor Claudius (41–54 A.D.). Consequently, several Roman fortifications were located along the Oude Rijn, including the castellum Albanianae in Alphen’s center. A first bridge had also been built over the Oude Rijn by the Romans. In 240 AD, Germanic raids ended Alphen’s importance as a commercial center.

Wijk bij Duurstede dammed the Oude Rijn in 1122 to prevent flooding in Utrecht and Leiden, which made the Lek River the main branch of the Rhine. There have been no floods in the Oude Rijn since then. Alphen was a fiefdom known as Alphen en Rietveld during the Middle Ages.

In the 1930s, a vertical lift bridge was built over the Gouwe River.

Alphen’s importance as a commercial hub increased in the 17th century. There are still portions of the towpath along the Oude Rijn where boats were used for transport.

The municipality was formed in 1918 by amalgamating the smaller cities of Alphen, Aarlanderveen, and Oudshoorn. It was also expanded to include the town of Zwammerdam in 1964. Furthermore, the municipalities of Boskoop and Rijnwoude merged in 2014, doubling their land area and doubling their population.

Jews from Alphen were mainly deported and murdered during the Second World War. A Jewish congregation in Leiden was disbanded after World War II, and its assembly was merged with Leiden’s after the war. As a result of community activism for fifteen years by local historian Anke Bakker and CDA council member Alice Besseling, a monument was installed, and the area turned into a city park after the Jewish cemetery was abandoned and razed in the 1960s, with the remains being reinterred in Katwijk.