University of Groningen

The University of Groningen is an internationally oriented university with a rich academic tradition. Since the establishment in 1614, the university has brought forward striving academics, like the first female student, the first Dutch astronaut and various Nobel prize winners.

Geographically, the University is rooted in the Northern part of the Netherlands, a region very close to its heart. We connect education and research with sustainable and economic processes within society. This comes together in our three spearheads: Energy, Healthy Ageing and Sustainable Society.

Groningen Institute of Archaeology

The Groningen Institute of Archaeology (GIA) of the University of Groningen has been the knowledge centre on the archaeology of the northern part of the Netherlands since its establishment in 1920. The GIA engages in fundamental archaeological research in Northwest Europe, the Mediterranean and the Polar Regions. It’s researchers stimulate and integrate fundamental research on past human societies and their environments, from Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers to complex urban societies. The Institute facilitates research and fieldwork through its laboratories, drawing facilities, documentation, GIS, and technical support. From the start researchers at the GIA have been firmly rooted in the regions they work in and and they are well-connected to society at large.

The GIA deems archaeology an important societal factor. GIA-researchers carry out fundamental scientific research that relates to important current themes such as migration, sustainable living with a rising sea level, attitudes to death and identity politics, the relations between human societies and the natural environment, and the preservation of archaeological heritage.

The GIA world-class laboratories in archaeobotany and archaezoology play a central role in  knowledge dissemination: we support colleagues from commercial firms in their analysis and laymen alike.

Akerk

The Akerk is about eight hundred years old. Around 1200 a chapel came to stand on the east bank of the small river A. This soon grew into a large cross basilica, a church building with a floor plan in the shape of a cross. The church was dedicated to St. Nicholas, the patron saint of boatmen. There were plenty of them in this part of town. The A was an important waterway for trade. It was not until 1246 that the Akerk was first mentioned in a written document. In the fifteenth century people worked hard to enlarge the church. The work lasted about seventy years. As a result, around 1495, the Akerk took on roughly the shape it still has today.

For half of its eight hundred years of existence, the church was Catholic. In 1594, Groningen went over to the Reformation. Everything that reminded of Catholic use disappeared from the interior at that time. Protestant services took place in the Akerk until 1970. One thing did not change in eight centuries. The church is at the center of city life. What happened outside its walls in all that time is often still reflected in the church. The Akerk is therefore much more than an architectural or art historical monument. It houses countless histories, large and small. Therefore, the Akerk is the memory of a living city.