Map of the Week – Groningen, 1895

This week, we are looking at a map of the city of Groningen from 1895. The map shows the streets in the center, the cemetery outside the wawlls, and the surrounding countryside. An inset map displays the changes between 1863 and 1888, when the city walls were demolished and new streets created on the southside of the city.

Groningen was one of many places in the Netherlands where the old fortifications and town walls were demolished in the second half of the nineteenth century. Improvements in artillery had made the old town walls obsolete. The growing populations of the cities could not be contained inside the city walls. Leveling the fortifications opened up new space for people to live close to the town centers.

Map of Groningen, 1895. Crdedits: A. Wijn, collection Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (public domain)