Groningen, the Dutch city that fireworks its survival every August
Every 28 August, Groningen marks the day in 1672 when a besieging bishop gave up and went home, with music and fireworks nicknamed Bombing Bernard. Far from the Dutch centres of power, the northern city long had to fend for itself. Today a quarter of its residents are students, making it the youngest city in the country.
Nobody is sure where the name comes from. A folk tale claims exiles from Troy, led by a figure called Gruno, founded a castle here in 453 BC. A more sober theory links it to the people of Groni, perhaps a Frisian family, around a small lake near the Hunze. Archaeology finds people in the area from around 3950–3650 BC, and the first written reference to the town dates from 1040. It exercised city rights from 1245, though no formal charter survives.
As a Hanseatic trading town it grew rich, walled itself in during the 13th century and reached its peak in the late 15th, when it administered neighbouring Friesland and raised its landmark Martinitoren tower. In 1536 it accepted the Habsburg emperor Charles V as ruler, ending its autonomy, and after Maurice of Nassau captured it in 1594 it joined the Dutch Republic. Its university, the country's second oldest, opened in 1614.
The 17th century also tied the city to the Dutch West India Company, which carried over 300,000 enslaved Africans to Dutch colonies between 1621 and 1792; ships such as the Groeningen sailed from local yards. A town in Suriname still bears the Groningen name, after the home city of a colonial governor.
The 1672 siege by Bernhard von Galen, bishop of Münster, failed against the walls. In April 1945 fighting largely destroyed the main square, though the Martinitoren and city hall survived. Canals, locally called diep, still ring the centre. The climate is a little colder than elsewhere in the Netherlands, and the record low of −26.8 °C came on 16 February 1956. In January 2025 the city had 244,807 inhabitants, the sixth largest municipality in the country.
Source: Groningen
