Beach volley ball in the City. Out of Bounds in Groningen, The Netherlands
In mid-June each year, Groningen is honored by the "City Beach! Tour" of World Top Beach Footvolley. The Grote Markt - the Great Market - in the centre of town between the Martinikerk and the Stadhuis (seat of the municipal government) is made into a sandy beach, and the games are held. On this Sunday morning, the skies did not bode well... And the ball in this practice was going out of bounds as well!
This town hall dates from 1810, its date of completion, but it was much longer in the making. In the mid-eighteenth century the earlier building was derelict and even dangerous, so the town council decided to build a new one. They didn't get around to commissioning an architect until ten years or so later. Finally plans were drawn up in 1787 by the Dutch Palladian and neo-classical architect Jacob Otten Husly (1738-1796). The old building was pulled down and an enormous hole - ah! the citizens complained! - was left until construction began in 1793. But it was abruptly stopped in 1795 because the French Revolution had come to Groningen. Groningen in the Spring of that year rose against the Stadtholder William V, and declared itself a free Patriot city: "Brothers and Fellow Citizens! Thou are free! Thou art equal!" Dated: Year One of Batavian Freedom 1795.
Soon, however, there was a falling out with Étienne Jacques Joseph Alexandre Macdonald (1765-1840), the commanding general of the French northern army which only just before had been hailed as Groningen's liberator, the peat market had tumbled, and the town's economy fell on hard times. Construction on the town hall could not begin again until 1802, and it was finally completed in 1810, the year the Emperor Napoleon did away with the Kingdom of Holland altogether and made Groningen, too, a direct part of the French Empire. The university was given the title of Imperial University (in the right background you can just see the spire of the Academia, the main university hall).
But by 1813, Napoleon had lost his Empire, France and even his Imperial Throne.The Kingdom of the Netherlands was soon formed under the House of Orange (1814-1815, the Congress of Vienna; the Kingdom as such was instituted in 1816). Groningen again became a loyal subject city of the age-old ruling family.
This photo more or less looks West, from whence the prevailing winds of the North Sea which often bring mists and rain.
Beach volley ball in the City. Out of Bounds in Groningen, The Netherlands
In mid-June each year, Groningen is honored by the "City Beach! Tour" of World Top Beach Footvolley. The Grote Markt - the Great Market - in the centre of town between the Martinikerk and the Stadhuis (seat of the municipal government) is made into a sandy beach, and the games are held. On this Sunday morning, the skies did not bode well... And the ball in this practice was going out of bounds as well!
This town hall dates from 1810, its date of completion, but it was much longer in the making. In the mid-eighteenth century the earlier building was derelict and even dangerous, so the town council decided to build a new one. They didn't get around to commissioning an architect until ten years or so later. Finally plans were drawn up in 1787 by the Dutch Palladian and neo-classical architect Jacob Otten Husly (1738-1796). The old building was pulled down and an enormous hole - ah! the citizens complained! - was left until construction began in 1793. But it was abruptly stopped in 1795 because the French Revolution had come to Groningen. Groningen in the Spring of that year rose against the Stadtholder William V, and declared itself a free Patriot city: "Brothers and Fellow Citizens! Thou are free! Thou art equal!" Dated: Year One of Batavian Freedom 1795.
Soon, however, there was a falling out with Étienne Jacques Joseph Alexandre Macdonald (1765-1840), the commanding general of the French northern army which only just before had been hailed as Groningen's liberator, the peat market had tumbled, and the town's economy fell on hard times. Construction on the town hall could not begin again until 1802, and it was finally completed in 1810, the year the Emperor Napoleon did away with the Kingdom of Holland altogether and made Groningen, too, a direct part of the French Empire. The university was given the title of Imperial University (in the right background you can just see the spire of the Academia, the main university hall).
But by 1813, Napoleon had lost his Empire, France and even his Imperial Throne.The Kingdom of the Netherlands was soon formed under the House of Orange (1814-1815, the Congress of Vienna; the Kingdom as such was instituted in 1816). Groningen again became a loyal subject city of the age-old ruling family.
This photo more or less looks West, from whence the prevailing winds of the North Sea which often bring mists and rain.