Until the end of 2026 the Hunebed Centre in Borger will be home to a special exhibition about some of the plants which were already flourishing here 4,000 years ago.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Dutch Society of Botanical Artists, the museum is displaying artworks illustrating prehistoric flora under the title Wat Vroeger GeWas. In Dutch, this is a clever play on words combining the phrase ‘What Once Was’ with the word ‘gewas’ which means a plant. So a good translation would be Plants of the Past.
Walking through the Prehistoric Park, visitors will encounter twenty panels depicting plants in their natural context. Inside the museum building, an exhibition provides visitors with more information. The emphasis is on plants which were of crucial importance in the lives of our ancestors such as the hunebed builders. Examples include plants which were used as food or as natural colouring for dying textiles.
Science meets aesthetics
A botanical illustration is much more than an artistic impression, it is a scientifically based representation. Today’s botanical artists are following a centuries old tradition which focusses both on research and on an accurate reproduction of the subject. In the exhibition at the Hunebed Centre, this precision combines with the rough-hewn history of the surrounding Drenthe landscape to give visitors a unique glimpse of plants in the ancient past.
The exhibition can be seen until the end of December 2026.
