Monument Rabenhauptstraat
Groningen has its very own public holiday: Bommen Berend. This day revolves around commemorating the Battle of Groningen in 1672, in which army captain Carl von Rabenhaupt defended the city against the invasion of the Bishop of Münster (Bommen Berend).
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Its more than 20,000 soldiers besieged the city from the south, in the area where Rabenhauptstraat and Kempkensberg are now located. The siege lasted weeks and cost the lives of some 4,600 soldiers from the Münster-Cologne army and around 100 inhabitants of the city. On 28 August, Groningen was relieved. Every year the city still celebrates Bommen Berend on that date. The green copper sphere in this Bommen Berend monument represents a cannonball. The plaque's rusty surface refers to the passage of time. Brass letters read: 'Groningen Constant, Preserving 't Landt'. This phrase (constant means steadfast) was on one of the emergency coins minted in Groningen during the siege. The division in the plaque represents City and Ommelanden. To defend the city, large parts of the Ommelanden - Groningen's countryside - were flooded.