Provinciaal Domein Dommelhof

Provincial Domain Dommelhof is an institution of the province Limburg in Belgium for culture, performing arts, and sports. Dommelhof was opened in 1967 in the municipality Neerpelt. The institution was the first cultural center in Flanders.

In 1962, the Provincial Council of Belgian Limburg decided to set up Dommelhof. Second Minister of Culture Frans Van Mechelen decided to subsidize the construction of the cultural infrastructure. This infrastructure, designed by Alfons Hoppenbrouwers, included a theater, education and residence building. In 1967 the first show of the theater was a fact. Until the 1980s, content was mainly devoted to social-cultural education and experimental programming in the theater. In 1979 the site was expanded with a sports center.
In the 1980s an international doll festival was launched and a summer festival for open air theater was launched. The puppet festival has disappeared and the festival for open air theater expanded in the following years to the international festival for outdoor, venue and circus theater on the Market. The platform for arthousecinema in Limburg, Zebracinema, also originated in Dommelhof.

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