Gorinchem is a Dutch town located in the southern part of the country. The settlement, founded by farmers and fishermen most probably in the 10th century, was granted city rights in 1322. In the 14th century the town had been surrounded by the walls along with twenty three watch towers, which in the 16th century were replaced with fortifications preserved to this day. Gorinchem is the place where several well-known painters, scholars and theologians were born. What is more, the so-called Martyrs of Gorkum also came from Gorinchem – it was a group of Catholic clergy hanged by the followers of Calvinism in 1572.
