Oosterbeek is a town in Gelderland, the Netherlands, known best for Operation Market Garden and the Battle of Arnhem (1944). The birthplace of Dutch Impressionism, it is also home to a World War II museum and cemetery.

Oosterbeek has been a settlement with a church ever since the tenth century. Parts of this original church are still found in the current-day Oude Kerk, making it one of the Netherlands' oldest churches. The church was expanded upon in the 14th century, and a cloister was built nearby.

During the nineteenth century, the town grew in popularity among painters, and developed itself to a painters' village. As a painters' village, Oosterbeek was often dubbed the Dutch Barbizon, after the foremost French painters' village. Many landscape painters travelled to and lived in the village during this heyday, including one of the foremost Dutch landscape painters: Hendrik Willem Mesdag, best known for the panorama carrying his name in The Hague.

During the second half of the nineteenth century, many affluent Dutchmen settle down in the forests around the village, with Oosterbeek becoming filled with villas. To this day, many of these villas remain standing, and make it to where over a percent of Oosterbeek's houses are appraised at over a million Euros.

Most notable in forming the Oosterbeek of today was Operation Market Garden and the Battle of Arnhem (1944). Oosterbeek, located just west of Arnhem, housed a medical post for allied troops in its church. The church took a lot of fire during this period, and was heavily damaged. Almost the entirety of lower Oosterbeek was levelled because of the fighting. Hotel Hartenstein housed the headquarters of the British 1st Airborne Division, and was largely destroyed too. Since 1980, the former hotel houses the Airborne Museum. Opposite the railway lies one of the Netherlands' largest World War II military graveyards, being the final resting grounds of many that fought for the liberation of the northern half of the Netherlands.

Map of Oosterbeek

• 51.9880565.83251 Airborne Museum 'Hartenstein', Utrechtseweg 232, ☏ +31 263 337 710, [email protected]. 10:00 - 17:00. A museum focussed on the Secord World War, oriented specifically at the 1944 Operation Market Garden and the Battle of Arnhem. During this operation, allied troops (mostly British), were airdropped into hostile territory in order to secure the bridge crossing the Rhine in Arnhem. The operation went down as one of the last major allied defeats against Nazi Germany during the Second World War. The building served as the headquarters of the British 1st Airborne Division, having been a hotel before the war, and has served as a museum dedicated to Operation Market Garden since 1980, having been critically acclaimed in its modernised (2009) form. €16. (updated Mar 2025)
• 51.9935225.8485462 Airborne War Cemetery, Van Limburg Stirumweg 28 (From the Oosterbeek train station, follow the Van Limburg Stirumweg, which leads directly to the cemetery). As a possible addition to a visit to the Airborne Museum, consider the Airborne War Cemetery, which has become the final resting place of about 1500 allied soldiers who have fallen in an attempt to liberate the Northern Netherlands. (updated Mar 2025)
• 51.9666975.7888443 Kasteel Doorwerth, Fonteinallee 2b, Doorwerth, ☏ +31 263 397 406. Medieval castle on the banks of the river Rhine, first mentioned in writing in 1260. Its current appearance is largely the state to which it was expanded in the middle of the fifteenth century, which gives the castle its very Medieval appearance. The castle largely remained unaltered since, having only been repaired when needed, as many of its owners never stayed at the castle. Whereas many Dutch castles were destroyed or damaged during the "Rampjaar" (Disaster year) 1672, Doorwerth Castle remained standing due to its then-owner having good connections with the King of Denmark, then an ally of the French, which the Dutch found themselves at war with. The largely dilapidated castle was refurbished in 1837, the 1910s, and following the Second World War. In the castle gardens stands a black locust tree (Robinia pseudoacacia) which itself is a listed monument, having been planted in 1579 according to written account, but 1601 according to the sign placed by it. Both of those trees were destroyed, however, and this tree would have been planted in 1678 to commemorate the Nijmegen Peace. Regardless of its age, it is by far the oldest black locust in the Netherlands. €15. (updated Mar 2025)
• 51.972195.808214 Duno Estate, Fonteinallee 3, Doorwerth. A buitenplaats (summer estate) near the Doorwerth Castle. Its oldest part is the Hunnenschans (Huns Sconce), a tenth century defence work consisting of a circular rampart measuring 43 metres (47 yd) by 90 metres (98 yd). Upon the ramparts once stood stone walls, with wooden structures within it. The estate, meanwhile, houses many panoramas over the river Rhine, as well as extensive gardens and historical elements such as a decorative bridge and cascades. (updated Mar 2025)
• 51.974455.7167855 Oranje Nassau's Oord, Boslaan, Wageningen. Estate acquired in 1881 by then-king William III, who turned the estate here into a royal palace in the hope that the landscape around it would remind his wife, Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont of her birth region of Hesse, and lessen her homesickness. Emma did not spend much time at the palace, but she became the sole owner of the palace in 1899. When her daughter ascended to the throne in 1898, Emma invested her funds to make the palace into the first sanatorium in the Netherlands, aimed at helping people recover from tuberculosis. As the goal of the sanatorium was to be beneficial to the wider Dutch populace, Emma gifted the estate and palace to a fund bearing her name. The palace itself was torn down after it was heavily damaged in the Second World War. When during the 1970s, tuberculosis had almost entirely disappeared from the Netherlands, the sanatorium was repurposed into a care home for dementia-struck elderly. Buildings inaccessible, estate freely accessible. (updated Mar 2025)

• Being a still largely forested area, and rather hilly by Dutch terms, Oosterbeek and its surroundings lend themselves well to hiking and cycling. Many of the estates that cover the non-urban area are publicly accessible.
  • 51.9875.729741 Renkums beekdal (Renkum's stream valley), Nieuwe Keijenbergseweg 170, ☏ +31 317 318 183, [email protected]. The valley around the Molenbeek and its many branches. Once littered with water mills, nowadays the valley is more aimed at biodiversity. (updated Mar 2025)
  • 51.9812675.8280642 De Hemelse Berg (Tuin De Lage Oorsprong), Van Borsselenweg 36. An estate purchased in 1848 by writer and poet Johannes Kneppelhout, who redeveloped the park and had a new manor built. There, he hosted many artists who he supported financially, turning the estate into a hub for up and coming talent. The estate, like many others in the area, suffered heavily during the Second World War. The manor suffered a lot of damage, and was eventually torn down. Today, the estate is publicly open, and only the former orangery, gardener's house and coach house remain standing. Around the gardener's house, a new public garden has been built. (updated Mar 2025)
  • 51.99265.79253 Wolfheze's forests and estates, Oude Kloosterweg 1, Wolfheze. Consisting of Wolfheze, Laag-Wolfheze, the Wolfhezer Bossen and the Bilderbergbossen, the area between Oosterbeek and Wolfheze is littered with pretty forests. (updated Mar 2025)

Within Oosterbeek itself, the Utrechtseweg and Weverstraat are the main streets with shopping facilities. For the other towns in the larger Renkum municipality, these are 51.979165.795121 De Weerd (Doorwerth), and the Dorpsstraat in Renkum. Due to the towns' small nature, more specific purchases are better to be made in nearby Arnhem.