Haren, Groningen

Haren, Groningen

Haren (Gronings: Hoaren) is a municipality and a town in the northeastern Netherlands located in the direct urban area of the City of Groningen.

Haren is a typical commuting municipality with many wealthy inhabitants. It lies on the northern part of a ridge of sand called the Hondsrug. It contains one of two dolmens in the province of Groningen (in the village of Noordlaren) and the largest botanical garden of the Netherlands called Hortus Haren. The municipality comprises a wood called Appèlbergen (east of the village of Glimmen) and a lake called Paterswoldsemeer.

Haren was officially mentioned for the first time in 1249.

On September 21, 2012 riots broke out with vandalism and looting in Haren. This was all because of an accidentally public distributed invitation to a birthday party on the social networking site Facebook. The events were called Project X Haren. More than 5000 people showed up and over 30 people were arrested. The damage amounts to more than a million euros.