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Folkingestraat: (Street)

When you are in Folkingestraat, you enter the former Jewish Quarter of Groningen. Until 1942, this street was the center of a Jewish neighborhood. In 1942, 2,450 Jewish residents of Groningen were deported, in the following year another 300.

According to the population register, the city of Groningen had around 2,850 Jewish inhabitants in 1941 who met the criteria for deportation. Only a few of them survived the concentration camps. In the Folkingestraat, there were 191 Jewish residents. The last section of the Folkingestraat, the extension of the street towards the Zuiderdiep, was called the Jodenstraatje (Jewish Alley) from 1756 to 1890, also known as Sjoelgasse.Several artworks in this street serve as reminders of the Jewish life in this neighborhood, which abruptly ended with the deportations.

The most well-known artworks are:

The "Portal": A door, without a handle, that leads nowhere. The history of Folkingestraat is hidden behind this closed door. A history that can no longer be told because the people who once lived here were taken away during the Second World War. This artwork can be found: click here 

Galgal Hamazalot: With this artwork by Joseph Semah, you literally walk through the entire street. Pay close attention to the ground as he has created eleven bronze moon shapes in the pavement of Folkingestraat, forming a lunar cycle from the full moon to the new moon. When all the shapes are combined, they create an eye, with the full moon serving as the pupil. In Hebrew, the word for moon also means eye and is connected to the number eleven because Hebrew numbers are associated with words. For Semah, the lunar cycle is a metaphor for the life cycle and the cycles that history and the future are built upon. This artwork is incorporated into the cobblestones of Folkingestraat.

Korenbeurs:

Its origins date back to the Middle Ages when the grain trade thrived here. In the 18th century, a wooden building was erected for trading. Due to continued growth, this building was replaced by a stone structure with an open courtyard in 1825. The building you are standing in front of was opened in 1865 because outdoor trading was not satisfactory. On either side of the entrance, two zinc statues of Neptune and Ceres were placed, representing the Roman god of the sea and the goddess of agriculture, respectively. On the roof of the building, you can see the statue of Mercury, the god of commerce. Together, they symbolize the significant importance of trade, shipping, and agriculture for the city of Groningen.

A-kerk (Church):

Did you know that this place has actually been a cemetary? This was evicted in 1828 because it was no longer considered hygienic in the middle of the city centre.

The A-kerk (A-Church) is the most important surviving medieval church in the city, alongside the Martinitoren (Martini Tower). The A-kerk was built in the 15th century and is a national monument. Nowadays, the church is used for events, which, as you may understand, creates a unique atmosphere.

• Did you also notice the brass strips running across the ground alongside the A Church? These strips mark the contours of the 15th-century A Church, which at that time was significantly larger than it is today.