 Archeon medieval bakery | |
| Location | Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 52°06′54″N4°39′02″E / 52.114928°N 4.650462°E |
| Opened | 1994 |
| Theme | archeology, stone-age, Roman period, middle-ages |
| Attendance | 300.000 |
| Website | https://www.archeon.nl/index.html |
Archeon is an archeological open air and living museum in Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands. [1]
Archeon opened as a theme park in 1994, with a focus on demonstrating archaeology to the public. It quickly underwent financial trouble and was on the brink of bankruptcy in 1995. [2] However, it recovered and then evolved into an open air museum, reconstructing various eras from Dutch history. In 2011, the South Holland House of Archaeology was opened, (in Dutch: Archeologiehuis Zuid-Holland). Under the management of Archeon and located at its entrance, it exhibits various archaeological discoveries in the area. [3] In 2015, Archeon was recognised as a formal museum and under the management of the Archeon Museum Park Foundation (in Dutch: Stichting Museumpark Archeon) [4]
The museum features various historical periods of Dutch history via archeological reconstructions and historical reenactments. Educated actors called archeo-interpreters inform visitors about the living circumstances at those days. Visitors can engage in activities. Among the periods portrayed are the Stone Age, the Roman times and the Medieval period. A restoration yard with original wooden ships from the Roman period, found at Zwammerdam, is part of the collection. [5] The museum also contains an arena, where reenactments of Roman gladiator fights are held. [6]
Archeon was and is host to several festivals such as the Midsummer Fair, the Midwinter Fair, the Roman Festival and the Elf Fantasy Fair. [7]
Tilburg is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601, it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-largest in the Netherlands as a whole.
Alphen aan den Rijn is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The city is situated on the banks of the river Oude Rijn, where the river Gouwe branches off. The municipality had a population of 112,587 in 2021, and covers an area of 132.50 km2 (51.16 sq mi) of which 6.27 km2 (2.42 sq mi) is water.
Historical reenactments is an educational or entertainment activity in which mainly amateur hobbyists and history enthusiasts dress in historic uniforms and follow a plan to recreate aspects of a historical event or period. This may be as narrow as a specific moment from a battle, such as the reenactment of Pickett's Charge presented during the 1913 Gettysburg reunion, or as broad as an entire period, such as Regency reenactment.
Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to reenact a specific event in history, living history is similar to, and sometimes incorporates, historical reenactment. Living history is an educational medium used by living history museums, historic sites, heritage interpreters, schools and historical reenactment groups to educate the public or their own members in particular areas of history, such as clothing styles, pastimes and handicrafts, or to simply convey a sense of the everyday life of a certain period in history.
Experimental archaeology is a field of study which attempts to generate and test archaeological hypotheses, usually by replicating or approximating the feasibility of ancient cultures performing various tasks or feats. It employs a number of methods, techniques, analyses, and approaches, based upon archaeological source material such as ancient structures or artifacts.
An open-air museum is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts outdoors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum.
Medieval reenactment is a form of historical reenactment that focuses on re-enacting European history in the period from the fall of Rome to about the end of the 15th century. The second half of this period is often called the Middle Ages. This multiplicity of terms is compounded by the variety of other terms used for the period.
Zwammerdam is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland along Oude Rijn river. It is a part of the municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn, and lies about 6 km southeast of Alphen aan de Rijn. The name derives from a dam built in the Rhine river in 1165 AD by Count Floris III of Holland, to protect the land stream downwards from floods.
Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from the two most important collectors of Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. It is located at the Museumpark in the district Rotterdam Centrum, close to the Kunsthal and the Natural History Museum.
The Hatay Archaeology Museum is the archaeology museum of Antakya, Turkey. It is known for its extensive collection of Roman and Byzantine Era mosaics. The museum is located in Antakya, the main city of Hatay. Construction of the museum started in 1934 on the recommendation of the French archaeologist and antiquities inspector Claude M. Prost. It was completed in 1938 and came under Turkish control in 1939 following Hatay's unification with Turkey. The museum was opened to the public in 1948 and re-opened in 1975 following renovation and expansion.
The Antalya Museum or Antalya Archeological Museum is one of Turkey's largest museums, located in Muratpaşa, Antalya. It includes 13 exhibition halls and an open-air gallery. It covers an area of 7,000 m2 (75,000 sq ft) and 5000 works of art are exhibited. In addition, a further 25,000–30,000 artifacts which cannot be displayed are in storage. As a museum exhibiting examples of works, which illuminate the history of the Mediterranean and Pamphylia regions in Anatolia, Antalya Museum is one of the most important of Turkey's museums. The Museum won the "European Council Special Prize" in 1988.
The Kunsthal is an art space in Rotterdam. It opened in 1992.
The Bavarian State Archaeological Collection in Munich is the central museum of prehistory of the State of Bavaria, considered to be one of the most important archaeological collections and cultural history museums in Germany.
The Eindhoven Museum is an archaeological open-air museum in Eindhoven, Netherlands, focusing on the Iron Age and Middle Ages in the province of North Brabant. The museum is situated in the Genneper Parken area at the south side of the city. It focuses on the daily lives and routines of people in the time periods mentioned, through demonstrations and recreations of buildings, practices and routines. For example, there are demonstrations of cooking on open fire, of games played in the Middle Ages and groups of school children are allowed to spend the night in the stables.
Elfia, formerly known as the Elf Fantasy Fair is a fantasy-themed cosplay festival held twice a year in the Netherlands.
The Izmir Archaeology Museum is an archeology museum in Izmir, Turkey, containing a number of artifacts from around the Gulf of Izmir. Most of the artifacts, which include busts, statues, statuettes, tools, and various eating and cooking utensils, come from the Bronze Age, or from the Greek and Roman periods.
Albaniana was the name the ancient Romans gave a settlement on the southern banks of Rhine river, some 40 kilometers from its mouth in the North Sea, known as Alfen and modern-day Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands. They did build a military fort there, as part of a range strategically built encampments, to protect and guard the river, frontier (limes) of the Roman empire and main transport route of goods and troops. The historical map Tabula Peutingeriana situates the settlement in between Matilo (Leiden) and Praetorium Agrippinae (Valkenburg) downstream and Nigrum Pullum (Zwammerdam) and Fectio (Vechten) upstream. The village was mentioned in Antoninus' register of roads Itinerarium Antonini from the 3rd century. The fortress must have been surrounded by a wall of ground and wooden poles, with gates and watch towers.
Aydın Archaeological Museum is in Aydın, western Turkey. Established in 1959, it contains numerous statues, tombs, columns and stone carvings from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods, unearthed in ancient cities such as Alinda, Alabanda, Amyzon, Harpasa, Magnesia on the Maeander, Mastaura, Myus, Nisa, Orthosia, Piginda, Pygela and Tralleis. The museum also has a section devoted to ancient coin finds.
The Foteviken Museum is an archaeological open-air museum on the Höllviken peninsula in southern Skåne, Sweden. It contains a reconstruction of a large Viking Age settlement and a "viking reservation", and visitors participate in living history reenactments; it also performs research and functions as the municipal museum of Vellinge Municipality and part of Fotevikens Kulturcenter, a group of cultural facilities on the peninsula.
