Roden () is a town in the Dutch province of

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Jan ...

. It is located in the municipality of Noordenveld, about 16 km (10 miles) southwest of

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

History

The village was first mentioned in 1139 as Rothen, and means "settlement near a clearing in the forest". Roden is an '' esdorp'' which developed in the Early Middle Ages. It has a large ''brink'' (village square) near the church and a double triangular ''brink'' around what is nowadays called Julianaplein. The Dutch Reformed church has three aisles and dates from the 13th century. The tower has a constricted needle spire which dates from the 15th or 16th century. The church was extended in the 15th century. The church was restored several times during the

Dutch Revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, exc ...

due to war damage. Huis Mensinge or Huis te Roden is a '' havezate'' (manor house) which was built in the 15th century as a replacement of an estate from 1381. It was plundered by

in 1498. The building received its current shape in 1728. In 1985, it was sold to the municipality and now contains a museum. Roden was home to 1,889 people in 1840. In the 1950s, it started to develop as an industrial centre. The Kapteyn Astronomical Institute was established in the town as the astronomy department of the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, th ...

, and it started to develop as a commuter town for

. Many of the nearby hamlets have been annexed. An '' Ot en Sien'' statue, the main characters from a famous Dutch children's book, has been placed on the village square. Roden was a separate municipality until 1998, when it merged into the municipality of Noordenveld as a part of municipal reorganisations, however it is still the capital of the municipality.

Notable people

* Peter Dijkstra (born 1978), conductor

Gallery

File:RodenChurch.jpg, Church of Roden File:Groepsaccommodatie de Zwerfsteen 2011.jpg, Holiday home File:20201118 Kapteyn Sterrenwacht Roden.jpg, Kapteyn Astronomical Institute File:Dezulthe.jpg, Villa Dezulthe

References

External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of the Netherlands disestablished in 1998 Former municipalities of Drenthe Populated places in Drenthe Noordenveld