Groningen

If you were to draw a horizontal line through the centre of the Netherlands, (leaving Amsterdam aside) you would be left with Groningen as the largest city in the top half.

The city includes apartments, working-class houses, newly-built houses, offices, historic mansions, warehouses, hospices, courts and modern schools and museums; from the old Gold Office to the brand-new Tasman residential tower block, Groningen stands for architecture.

Groningen is the city with the youngest population in the Netherlands because of the substantial number of student residents: there are over 50,000 students in higher and university education.

In the fourteenth century, Groningen became a member of the Hanseatic League (1282-1669), a collaboration of merchants primarily from Germany, Scandinavia, England, Poland, the Baltic States, Russia and the Netherlands.

The University of Groningen (Dutch: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen), located in the city of Groningen, was founded in 1614. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands as well as one of its largest.

Groningen is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen (districts of Leer and Emsland), in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea. The capital of the province is the city of Groningen.

Groningen is the main municipality as well as the capital city of the eponymous province in the Netherlands.