The core of the little town are the students. I saw sone lying in the park, drugged, but the most of them were on their ways to the classes. The houses are small, some of them with the traditional “gable’. I couldn’t ignore the  specific cheese in the shop windows.

I was impressed by the large number of churches in such a small town. Martini Church, built in 17th century, has the biggest baroque organ in SV Europe. Near the river Aa, the little church of the fishermen, Sf. May and St. Nicholas, consacrated in 1226, has now a gothic aspect.


I also walk throught the Princenhof inner court. It is a 400-500 yrs. old building, which once belonged to a monk order. Then it was inhabited by Maurits Prince and Duke  Lodewijk, before to become a military hospital during the 19th century.


The Provincienhuis has an older part, which is now the St. Martin school, while other part became in the 17th century part of the House of the Province.

In the center of the town, in the Big Market (Groote Markt), I saw  the Goudkantor renovated in 1996. It used to be the taxes collecting point and then the office were the gold was verified.


At last I visited the university, one of the oldest in The Netherlands. There are 27000 students and 1500 postgraduate students learning and living in a modern campus. What I visited was the Rector’s Office building. It has a monumental stair, with a nice stainglass window and a magnificent Senate Hall where the portraits of all the rectors are kept.


Aflata cu treaba in Olanda, am fost, timp de o zi, si oaspetele unui coleg din Groeningen.

Mi-a placut oraselul acesta universitar de cum l-am vazut. De la gara, am dat imediat ochi cu cladirea muzeului de arta moderna si arta veche chinezeasca, proiectat de arhitectul Alessandro Mendini. El face nota discordanta cu restul cladirilor, tipic olandeze, care amintesc de Amsterdam dar intr-o varianta redusa.

Groeningen pastreaza insa si cateva cladiri vechi, marturie a trecutului sau istoric. Cu un turn de 97 m inaltime, se inalta in centru Biserica Martini, construita in secolul al XII-lea. Atat turnul cat si biserica au fost reconstruite in perioade diferite, ceea ce vedem acum datand din secolele XIV-XV. Inauntru se afla cea mai mare orga baroc din sud-vestul Europei.

Pe malul raului Aa, se poate vedea o mica biserica construita pentru pescari. Initial, aici a fost doar o capela, apoi biserica a fost consacrata in 1226 si, in 1246, dedicata Sf. Maria si Sf. Nicolae, patronii marinarilor. Ceea ce se vede astazi este o reconstructie in stil gotic.

Toate acestea le-am vazut pe fuga, in drum spre ceea ce era obiectivul meu in ziua aceea, Universitatea din Groeningen. Este un frumos exemplu de arhitectura nordica, inspirata dupa Primaria din Bremen. Ea a fost fondata in 1614 si este una dintre cele mai vechi universitati din Olanda. In 1906 cladirea centrala a ars complet, fiind reconstruita in stil neo-renascentist, dupa planurile arhitectului Vrijman.

Avand in prezent cca. 27000 de studenti si 1500 doctoranzi, universitatea se mandreste cu un campus modern. Eu am vizitat insa cladirea centrala, veche, a Rectoratului, care pastreaza cu mandrie, in Sala Senatului universitar, fotografiile tuturor rectorilor sai. Multi studenti straini invata acum la aceasta universitate prestigioasa, care are noua facultati.