Tilburg (Dutch: [ˈtɪlbʏr(ə)x] ⓘ) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant.

The 75-hectare (185-acre) "Spoorzone" area around Tilburg Central station, once a Dutch Railways train maintenance yard, has been purchased by the city and is being transformed into an urban zone.

Many districts, including Korvel, Oerle, Broekhoven, Hasselt, Heikant, De Schans, and Heuvel, bear the names of these old hamlets.

The poor farmers living in these hamlets soon decided not to sell the wool from their sheep but to weave it themselves, and for a long time, much of the space inside their small houses was occupied by a loom—by the 17th century these numbered about 300.

As so-called "drapers", they supplied the weavers with the raw materials for their "home working", and the first Tilburg "mill houses" came into existence.

[13] The Heuvel, one of the important squares, had its own lime tree until 27 April 1994, being chopped down for a bicycle parking basement.

The residential tower is nicknamed De Vogelkooikes (The Bird Cages) for its cubic balconies taped[clarification needed] onto the building.

King William II always supported Tilburg—he provided money to improve the sheep breeding, built new farms and founded a cavalry barracks on St. Joseph Street, now a monumental building of the City Archives.

In 2008, the refurbished Pieter Vreedeplein was opened to the public, addressing a lack of shopping facilities as compared to similar-sized cities in the Netherlands.

[16] Oud-Noord is situated north of the railway that crosses Tilburg, and between the Ringbanen (ring roads around the city center).

The Hart van Brabantlaan is almost surrounded by high buildings like Westpoint Tower and the StadsHeer as a small part of the urban renewal.

[19] Before the district was built, it was mainly an agricultural area attached to a few villages, including Heikant, which is still the name of the biggest neighbourhood.

Residential neighbourhoods are in a small strip east of the Ringbaan Oost rather than the whole district, however, it is not considered as a part of the city center.

The main campus of Fontys University of Applied Sciences is located in this district, as well as St. Elisabeth hospital and Leijpark, one of the largest public parks in the city.

The Donge runs through the district, including greenspace with some Highland cattle grazing between the fences protecting the surrounding neighbourhoods.

[29] Since 2013, the electric car-producing company Tesla operates their main EU facility for assembly and distribution in Europe in the industrial area of Vossenberg north of the suburb "De Reeshof" in Tilburg.

[30] Tilburg has a high concentration of transportation/distribution industries, specializing in value added logistics and services, due to being the geographical center of the Benelux countries and being located on the transport corridor between Antwerp / Rotterdam and the Ruhr area.

With well-facilitated Library, museums and city center with many pubs and cafes,[32] this percentage has steadily increased over the past years.

[35] In 2007 the Executive MBA program at the university's TiasNimbas Business School ranked # 11 in the world according to the Financial Times.

The School originated from the merging of various educational institutions that had existed in different capacity in Tilburg before being united under the Fontys group, such as the Brabants Conservatorium, one of the nine conservatoires in the Netherlands, and the Academie voor Beeldende Vorming.

The drink is distilled now at Loven industrial area in Tilburg by the Eindhoven company Schrobbeler Ltd, without the è on the last vowel.

Fontys University of Applied Sciences started a pop academy in the beginning of the 21st century, and students often perform on local stages.

Tilburg has a renowned museum of contemporary art, De Pont, which houses works from artists such as Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor and Richard Serra.

The museum was originally housed in the former intendant residence of King Willem II, but moved in 1985 to its current location, a former technical school near the railway station.

Out of the municipality, there's a national park called Loonse en Drunense Duinen which includes dunes of drift sand from the west coast.

Tilburg is the closest major settlement to The Efteling, with the amusement park made famous by Python being located only 11km away from the city centre.

A small fan owned miniature attraction called Mini Efteling can be found a short distance away from the actual park.

Before Arriva, the buses were operated by Veolia, and before that by BBA (abbreviation for Brabants(ch)e Buurtspoorwegen en Autobussen).

[48] Tilburg is, at variance from other Dutch cities of a similar size, connected by only one national motorway, the A58 / E312 (to Breda and Eindhoven).

[49] Although the outer beltway is fully navigable, the Burgemeester Bechtweg, which was built initially as a two-lane (one per direction) road, was finished in 2013.