Rottum is a small village on an artificial dwelling hill

Artificial dwelling hill

An artificial dwelling hill is a mound, created to provide safe ground during high tide and river floods....

 between Kantens

Kantens

Kantens is a village in the Dutch province of Groningen. It is located in the municipality of Eemsmond, about 16 km north of the city of Groningen.Kantens was a separate municipality until 1990, when it became a part of Hefshuizen.-External links:*...

 and Usquert

Usquert

Usquert is a village in the Dutch province of Groningen. It is located in the municipality of Eemsmond.Usquert was a separate municipality until 1990, when it became part of Hefshuizen. After that, the name of the municipality was changed to Eemsmond in 1992....

 in the municipality of Eemsmond

Eemsmond

Eemsmond is a municipality in the northeastern Netherlands.- Population centers :Eemshaven, Eppenhuizen, Kantens, Oldenzijl, Oosteinde, Oosternieland, Oudeschip, Roodeschool, Rottum, Startenhuizen, Stitswerd, Uithuizen, Uithuizermeeden, Usquert, Warffum, Zandeweer.It also includes the uninhabited...

, falling under the province Groningen

Groningen (province)

Groningen [] is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen , in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea...

 in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. The village currently counts about 165 inhabitants.

Heathen chapel

The village was founded on a clay bank of the Fivel estuary

Estuary

An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....

 and the Wadden Sea

Wadden Sea

The Wadden Sea is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands. It is rich in biological diversity...

. Since high tides were threatening the early inhabitants they heightened it with manure and waste: this way an artificial dwelling hill was created.
On top of the artificial dwelling hill eventually a heathen chapel was located, according to the biography of the missionary Ludger

Ludger

Saint Ludger was a missionary among the Frisians and Saxons, founder of Werden Abbey and first Bishop of Münster in Westphalia....

. The name "Rottum" could be derived from "rot Heim", which can be translated as "red dwelling-place".

Monastery

St. Juliana's Abbey

St. Juliana's Abbey

St. Juliana's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Rottum, the Netherlands. The abbey, dedicated to the virgin-martyr Juliana of Nicomedia, was probably founded between 1195 and 1210 by monks from the Benedictine Werden Abbey in Germany....

 was a Benedictine monastery, probably founded between 1195 and 1210 by monks from the Benedictine Werden Abbey

Werden Abbey

Werden Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Essen-Werden , situated on the Ruhr.- The foundation of the abbey :Near Essen Saint Ludger founded a monastery in 799 and became its first abbot. The little church which Saint Ludger built here in honor of Saint Stephen was completed in 804 and dedicated...

 in Germany. The monastery was demolished at the end of 1800.

Rottumeroog

Rottumeroog

Rottumeroog is one of the three islands that make up Rottum, a group of islands that are part of the West Frisian Islands archipelago. The island is situated off the Dutch coast in the North Sea. The island is named after the village Rottum in Groningen: the Benedictine "St...

 or Rottum, an island in the Waddenzee, is named after the village since the monastery was two-thirds owner of the island.
Near the village the nunnery named Bethlehem

Bethlehem, Netherlands

Bethlehem is a hamlet just west of the village of Rottum, in the Dutch province of Groningen.Bethlehem is built at the location of a Benedictine nunnery. Together with the St. Juliana's Abbey a small distance to the north, the nunnery was mentioned in 1291 as the Conventus St. Juliane in Rotthem...

 was located.

Protestant church

In 1889 a Protestant church was built on the same location as the monastery.

The poet Jan Boer was born in Rottum.
In 1999 the sculptor Greet Grottendieck

Greet Grottendieck

The sculptor Greet Grottendieck was born in 1943 in Den Haag. In 1965 she moved to the Veluwe.She makes sculptures from people and animals.Her work can be seen in various cities and villages in the Netherlands.-External links:*...

was asked to make a bust of Jan Boer to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his day of birth.

External links

• Rottum.org