Heerlen is a municipality and a town in the southeastern Netherlands and the second biggest city in the province of Limburg. In the 19th century it became a centre for the coal mining industry. A distinctive building in the city centre is the so-called Glaspaleis (Glass Palace), formerly housing the Schunck department store and now a cultural centre. It is a national monument and listed as one of the 1000 most important buildings of the 20th century.