Hunebed Centre, Drenthe Province, The Netherlands

4immorissal 5:00 PM Jul 26, 2022

Dolmen are always marvellous, but the center lacks the depth the subject so desperately deserves.
One can never go wrong with a dolmen and prehistory, in my opinion, so in that sense the Hunebed Centrum really has it all: it’s built near the largest dolmen in The Netherlands, D27. However, the exhibitions – because of the heat, we only visited the ones indoors – are showing quite some shortcomings in line with the general idea in The Netherlands that all museums are meant for kids and have to be ‘entertaining’. The film at the start of the exhibition is a ‘fun’ take on archaeology, comparing it to forensic detecting. The production was a lot less informative than it should have been, and included a very medieval uber-traditional Christian concept of courting between men and women (which was just really bad speculating, bordering on Disney stereotyping). The exhibition space itself is a difficult space to work with and feels very early 1980s. There are some dioramas, and there’s a simulation of a life sized hunebed as it’s supposed to look in the middle of the space. This is actually one of the best features of the centrum; you can go in and really imagine the space inside of this neolithic architecture. There’s a lot more space in the centrum than there’s content, so it feels rather empty. On the top floors are some interactive installations one can play with, but it just feels dreadfully superficial compared to, say, the incredible Moesgaard museum in Denmark. The museum is probably suffering from a lack of funding (?), but deserves to have a much, much more prominent place in the museum landscape of The Netherlands. —— The Unesco exhibition in the other building was interesting, but badly executed. There was a panoramic projection that one could interact with through a screen, but the space was too light and the set up too restricted to actually be immersive. This is such a shame, as I could tell the production was done quite well (and there were a couple of very expensive laserbeamers attached to the ceiling). If I were the production team that made it, I’d be utterly disappointed of the way it was presented. It should have its own (a bit bigger) space instead of being tucked between racks of rocks, and as an audience, we should be able to stand inside the half-circle so immersion actually takes place. If it’s presented properly, it would be a full feature of the centrum. Everyone was very friendly, though. I just really wish the content would get the (financial and structural) attention it so desperately deserves.

3Anco M 5:00 PM Jun 2, 2022

OK for a short visit
Hunebedden are a big thing in Drenthe and Borger has the biggest in the land. The centre is located right next to it. You can visit the hunebed without visiting the centre. We liked the short film a lot, the museum was OK, the outdoor area not worth the visit. Overall worth going for 1/2 hour (unless you are very big into rocks).