Kralingen is a former village in the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 province of South Holland

South Holland

South Holland is a province situated on the North Sea in the western part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is The Hague and its largest city is Rotterdam.South Holland is one of the most densely populated and industrialised areas in the world...

, now a neighbourhood of Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

. It is located about 3 kilometres east of the city centre, in the borough Kralingen-Crooswijk

Kralingen-Crooswijk

Kralingen-Crooswijk is a township of the city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It is located at the immediate east of the city's centre. As of 2005 it has about 52,379 inhabitants and has a territory of about 1,286 ha...

.

Kralingen was a separate municipality until 1895, when it merged with Rotterdam. Previously, the high society of the growing city in the 19th century had their pleasure gardens and villas erected there.

It is home to the Kralingse Plas, a large surface water used for recreation, and the Kralingse Bos, a forest of 2 square kilometres that welcomed 100,000 visitors for the Kralingen Music Festival

Kralingen Music Festival

The Kralingen Music Festival was a music festival held in the Kralingse Bos, in the Kralingen neighbourhood of Rotterdam, on the 26th-28th June 1970. Performing bands included T-Rex, Pink Floyd, The Byrds, Santana and Jefferson Airplane. Festival posters show that the festival was billed in Dutch...

 in 1970 which was the "European answer to Woodstock

Woodstock Festival

Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...

".

Arsenal

Arsenal F.C.

Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...

 footballer Robin van Persie

Robin van Persie

Robin van Persie is a Dutch footballer who plays as a striker for Arsenal and the Dutch national team. He is a youth product of Feyenoord. Having joined Arsenal in 2004, Van Persie became the club captain on 16 August 2011...

was born and spent much of his youth in Kralingen.

When Rotterdam was bombed on 14 May 1940, a large portion of Kralingen went up in flames with it.