Hunebedcentrum — Attraction in Borger-Odoorn

I have mixed feelings about the visit to this museum. First of all, let me address the multiple comments about information only being available in Dutch: evidently someone has been paying attention, and for the most part everything now has information both in Dutch and in English. There’s a visitor’s guide en English, and the few things that aren’t translated can be handled by any of the in-phone translator apps. But really that’s minimal. The intro movie is very quirky, and the English subtitles are hilarious – I’m not entirely sure how intentionally. I think it is really supposed to be rather lighthearted and humorous, but some of the language used in the subtitles is just a tad saltier than expected. Not a bad thing altogether. The staff speaks English and are kind and helpful. Overall, I think the museum organizers and keepers have poured a lot of love and effort into it. The really isn’t that much substance to it unless you’re a true paleontology geek… but they have certainly done their darndest best to get the most out of the relatively scarce material they have to work with. It is a NICE museum. It is a PRETTY museum. I just didn’t find it particularly fascinating. Also for the record, THE “largest hunebed in the Netherlands” is just outside of the museum, and can be openly visited by anyone without having to pay anything. There is a trail that leads to it, and if you’re on foot like I was, you’ll probably come across it before you reach the museum. There is also a “boulder garden” outside the museum that can be seen without paying an entry fee. Frankly, if you just wanted to see the hunebed/dolmen, you don’t need to pay the museum entry fee (€14.50, free with Museumkaart, at the time of writing). The museum just adds history and context, which is highly speculative, and mostly of interest if you’re into paleontology.

As a bonus, the village of Borger is very, VERY pretty, and worth visiting by itself just because how unique it is, with all of those beautiful houses with straw roofs.

I didn’t have anything better to do on my visit day, and didn’t really have the time or means to travel all around the Netherlands hunebed-hunting, which is probably the way to go if you live there and/ or have a car.

I don’t regret my visit, and seeing Borger in addition to the hunebed and the museum just about made it worth it… But it was a costly trip, both in time (over six hours total for the round trip alone), and in train and bus fees, which need to be added to the museum entry fee.

If the museum weren’t such an obvious labor of love, I would be tempted to rate it no more than 3 stars. But I don’t think that...

While driving through the small village Borger, I noticed a sign. Borger claims it is the Hunebed Capital of the Netherlands, having the largest hunebed (dolmen).

Living in the western part of the Netherlands, my life happens mainly on the axe Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp. Seldom do I visit our other provinces, despite they have much to offer. So I decided I would visit the site, a decision I absolutely not regret. As a child I read about hunebedden (plural). Now I saw the largest in full colour.

Last year I visited Stonehenge. Many know Stonehenge, and would like to visit it. I certainly recommend a visit. It is impressive! Not many people know of the existence of dolmens (many in Scandinavia!) so, do not intend to visit these. The dolmens are older than Stonehenge...

Therefore the first thing I noticed at the site, was the low numbers of spectators. The information center is similar to the one of Stonehenge: lots of information. The museum in Borger, however, did a greater job in reconstructing the lives of the people as of the Stone Age.

The stones and boulders come from Scandinavia, brought to the rest of Europe in gletsjers 200,000 years ago, when Europe was covered under 1 kilometer ice. Approximately 5,000 years ago the early settlers built...

Thoroughly enjoyed the visit, despite rainy conditions. Entrance fee (9.50 for adults) is not to shabby, but given the exposition at display not to much either. The indie exposition starts with a movie which was somewhat confusing but entertaining.

Following are some informative movies and maquettes and the chance to visit a hunebed as it would have been back in the days.

Following this, we went outside to the little areas that showed some of the ways people lived in iron and bronze ages as well as replica hunebed. Much to our surprise, the houses were occupied by people dressed in the fashion of that era and very willing to explain house things worked on those days. One word of warning: don't wear your best when visiting these houses, they are birthing a wood fire which is very cosy, but also very smoky and there wasn't much of a chimney around in these times so you will reek of smoke afterwards :)

All in all a very pleasant and informative way to spend an afternoon, definitely...