Featured City - Emmen

Emmen can be found to the north-east of The Netherlands. A fusion of several small farming and peat-harvesting communities and which date back to the Middle Ages, in the province of Drenthe. 

With 108,000 residents it is the most highly populated city in the area. It also accommodates the highest concentration of industry in the northern Netherlands with over 4,500 businesses. Emmen also devotes the highest number of hectares to glasshouse horticulture of any other municipality. The Schoonebeek gas fields are very close and the textile and electronic sectors are well represented.

Emmen is also both nationally and internationally renowned as an open, green city. An abundance of room has meant that with the use of clever landscaping the suburban areas border on heather covered land, sand dunes and woodland. Saxon farms and nine ancients’ graves show just how long this area has been inhabited.

The zoo, Wildlands (formerly known as Dierenpark Emmen), was built in 1935 and totally renewed in 2016. It has a large collection of animals that live in a carefully reconstructed habitat according to vegetation, climate and elevation. The oldest animal in the zoo is an elephant, Annnabel, who arrived at the zoo forty years ago at the age of two. The zoo attracts 1.5 million visitors every year and is open all year round. For more information on Wildlands: here https://www.wildlands.nl

The centre of Emmen is lively and filled with modern and diverse shopping areas as well as cafés and restaurants.

Culturally, Emmen also offers theatre, exhibitions and festivals for visitors. There is also a walk or cycle route, that with the guide book 'Beelden in Emmen' (Images in Emmen) in hand, takes the visitor past all the art works, and statues around the city. The guide is available from the VVV Emmen (tourist information).

First published in the Connections magazine #13 Autumn 2006 

View all issues of Connections HERE (editor, designer, illustrator: 2006-2013)

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