Open-air Museum Veen

Open-air museum near the Dutch village of Barger-Compascuum. The facility was founded in 1966 and covers 160 hectares, thus obtaining the title of the largest open-air museum in the Netherlands. The open-air museum reconstructed a peat settlement from 1870 - 't Aole Compas - and a settlement from later times: Bargermond.

There used to be a peat colony in this place. In 1966, her hundredth birthday passed and on this occasion an outdoor exhibition was created, which included, among others, several old peat bogs, called grasshouses. This exhibition initiated the creation of a later open-air museum, which consists of two settlements, whose buildings were made of peat. We will see, among others, a church, a cafe, a school, a mill, a bakery and a forge. Visiting Veenpark, we can get acquainted with the history of peat extraction, which dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, see how peat is extracted, experience the lifestyle of local residents and visit the extensive open-air museum by a narrow-gauge train.