Marnehuizen: abandoned village

Military ghost town

Marnehuizen - The village of Marnehuizen consists of dozens of houses, shops, a town hall, a train station, a bank, a school, a gas station, an industrial estate and a sewer system. But it is desolate. No one lives in Marnehuizen at all. No one has ever lived there before. The houses are all new construction. Yet there are 16 ruins. Marnehuizen is not strategically located at all; yet heavy fighting takes place regularly. Weird, what's going on in Marnehuizen?

Rotterdam streets, but in Groningen

Marnehuizen is the largest military training village in Europe. The village in the northwest of Groningen was opened in 2002 and is intended to train soldiers to fight in urbanized areas.

The center of the 14 million euro training village is formed by a village green on which the town hall stands. There are houses all around and just outside the village is the business park and a train station.
The streets in Marnehuizen are named after those of Rotterdam, in memory of the bombings at the beginning of the Second World War.

Lauwersmeer area

Marnehuizen is located in the Lauwersmeer area in the province of Groningen. It is located on the east side of the N361 provincial road. From the direction of Lauwersoog you can see the village on the left side of the road, just after the exit to the Nieuw Robbengat recreation area. From here you have free access to the area as long as you stay on roads and paths and do not disrupt exercise. The practice village is only open to visitors during open days and on some open monument days.