Museumeiland Groningen
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Panoramic photo by
Frank van Tol
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Museumeiland GroningenThe World > Europe > Netherlands |
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The Groninger Museum is one of the Dutch institutions of fi ne art and was founded in 1894. Since 1994 it is located in a new building which was constructed on a artifi cial island in a canal.
The main railway station of the city of Groningen, located south of the city’s center. This monumenta...
The 'Cascadecomplex' in the city of Groningen. The orange tower is the "De Regentes" and 55 meters hi...
The Der Aa-kerk is one of the two still existing medieval churches in the center of the city of Groni...
The Sint-Jozefcathedral is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden since ...
Dinkelpark is an appartment-complex with a residential tower of 53 meters high and the lower part has...
The Vismarkt ("Fish-market") in the center of the city of Groningen, the Netherlands. It is the secon...
An evening view on the Vismarkt ("Fish-market") in the center of the city of Groningen, the Netherlan...
Europe is generally agreed to be the birthplace of western culture, including such legendary innovations as the democratic nation-state, football and tomato sauce.
The word Europe comes from the Greek goddess Europa, who was kidnapped by Zeus and plunked down on the island of Crete. Europa gradually changed from referring to mainland Greece until it extended finally to include Norway and Russia.
Don't be confused that Europe is called a continent without looking like an island, the way the other continents do. It's okay. The Ural mountains have steadily been there to divide Europe from Asia for the last 250 million years. Russia technically inhabits "Eurasia".
Europe is presently uniting into one political and economic zone with a common currency called the Euro. The European Union originated in 1993 and is now composed of 27 member states. Its headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium.
Do not confuse the EU with the Council of Europe, which has 47 member states and dates to 1949. These two bodies share the same flag, national anthem, and mission of integrating Europe. The headquarters of the Council are located in Strasbourg, France, and it is most famous for its European Court of Human Rights.
In spite of these two bodies, there is still no single Constitution or set of laws applying to all the countries of Europe. Debate rages over the role of the EU in regards to national sovereignty. As of January 2009, the Lisbon Treaty is the closest thing to a European Constitution, yet it has not been approved by all the EU states.
Text by Steve Smith.
