The oldest archaeological traces of human settlements in Vaals were found in the nearby Vijlener forest, and date from the time of Linear Potter culture, about 5000BC. The origin of the town's name is Roman, with its ancient names Vals and Vallis meaning "in the Valley".
Vaals is first mentioned in documents in 1041. In that time, Emperor Henry III donated land to the St. Adalbert Abbey and to distinguish between the city of Aachen and this land, it is referred to as "in the valley"/in Vallis. In those days, the centre of the municipality was Holset, also home to a high court of justice.
Given the location of the municipality, along the main (and originally Roman) road between Aachen and Maastricht, Vaals observed many armies passing by. During the war against the Spanish occupation, in 1568, the armed forces of William of Orange passed through Vaals and looted St. Pauls Church.
In 1661 Vaals became part of the Republic of the United Netherlands. Many wealthy citizens moved to Vaals and turned it into a flourishing industrial hub. One prominent industrial family were the Von Clermonts, who moved from Aachen to Vaals in 1761 and established a large linen factory, with clientèle in Prussia, Belgium, Austria, Poland and even Russia. In 1717, Tsar Peter the Great visited the Von Clermonts. In 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, and his wife Josephine de Beauharnais visited Vaals and stayed in Bloemendal Castle, one of the outhouses of the Von Clermont family.
During the Conference of Vienna, Aachen was assigned to Prussia and Vaals to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Upon the Belgian declaration of independence in 1830, Vaals was Belgian claimed territory until it was reassigned to the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1839. As a result, the four national boundaries of Prussia, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Neutral Territory of Moresnet, met near Vaals until Moresnet was absorbed into Belgium in 1919 and the current 3 countries point remained.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Vaals
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Vaals - updated May 2024
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Vaals Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
