We had reached Eindhoven,Netherlands to reunite with our son & daughter in law on 10/5/24 & visited the amazing Prehistoric village(also called Eindhoven museum) on 14/5/24! It was an enriching experience of a lifetime which I have put in words for my valued lovely readers :

At the Prehistorisch Dorp(Prehistoric village), lets walk back in time in the prehistoric & medieval village immersing ourselves in a historic adventure strolling over the paths, houses, homestead & the barns !Listen to stories of the villagers ,experience their daily lives & play various games & activities of the past !Lets have an idea how to throw a spear or control a woden canoe !The prehistorisch dorp in Eindhoven is the replica of a prehistoric & medieval village, complete with dwelings & demonstration of skills used by historic people!The open air museum recreates life from this and later eras !On your way you will meet hunters from the stone age farmers from prehistoric times and craftsman from the middle ages!Stop for a chat & be amazed by their stories about daily life in the past! Lets learn to throw javelin or make a fire ,learn to weave a tape or paddle in a trunk canoe !The vikings amongst us learn to shoot with bow & arrow or how to forge a sword! Visiting Prehistorische Dorp is experiencing life through an adventurous journey back in time !Experience what life was in times of hunters & gatherers ,the time of first farmers & feel astonished by the stories of the villagers & discover traditional crafts & skill !The Prehistoric village lies north of the recreational area called the Genepper Parken Eindhoven !

Following are the unmanned activities to indulge-in at the Prehistorisch village practiced by the inhabitants in that era:

1)STONE AGE <250000-5300 BC>(Age of hunters & gatherers)––Spear throwing, making music, building a hut.

2)BRONGE AGE & IRON AGE<5300-50BC>(Age of first farmers):Playing in the loam pit (Agricultural Soil-Pit), Grinding grain, Canoeing.

3)ROMAN AGE<50BC-500AD>(Native Roman era): Creating pegs(tent fasteners), Pulling raft, Loculus Puzzle(kind of mathematical games)

4)EARLY MIDDLE AGE <500-1000AD(Age of Franks & Vikings) :Mill Game, Dressing up as warrior, Swordfighting.

5)LATE MIDDLE AGE<1000-1568AD(Age of Trade & Cities) :Pillory(a wooden framework for imprisoning offenders open to public), Medieval pooping (getting rid of the body’s unabsorbed & undigested waste ) ,Writing with a goose feather.

6)EARLY MODERN AGE <1568-1648AD>(80 Years War)–Stiltwalking (wooden poles or structures to raise a person or structure above the ground) ,making a coat of Arms, Throwing pebbles !

About the Eindhoven Museum:

The Eindhoven Museum is an archaelogical open air museum in Eindhoven Netherlands, focusing on the Iron ages and middle ages in the province of North Brabant The museum is situated in the Genneper Parken area at the south side of the city. It focuses on the daily lives and routines of people in the time periods mentioned, through demonstrations and recreations of buildings, practices and routines. For example, there are demonstrations of cooking on open fire, of games played in the Middle Ages and groups of school children are allowed to spend the night in the stables. The museum has several distinct target audiences. Primary among these are school children, who comprise most of the visitors on weekdays. In the weekends and during holiday season the museum focuses on regular tourists. The museum features a lot of living history & exhibits as well as semi-historical re enactments. During holiday seasons extra activities are staged for children. The museum also arranges historically themed corporate and family outings outside of opening hours. Some 60.000 people visited the museum in 2005.

History of the museum :

The Eindhoven Museum was founded in 1982 by a group of teachers from the local teachers academy led by Anneke Boonstra; it was then known as the “prehistoric village”. The first ten years were spent slowly and painstakingly building an Iron Age village with help of many volunteers and local unemployed people. In 1995 the museum drew national and international attention with a life experiment. Officially called “For 2 Moons”, it involved a small group (including the director Anneke Boonstra) withdrawing from civilization for two months to live life as it was in the Iron Age. Towards the end of the 1990s the museum began receiving European subsidies, allowing it to double in size and add a whole new theme on the new grounds: the Middle Ages. The museum is one of the founding members of EXARC , the international ICOM affiliated association of archaelogical open air museum and Experimental Archaeology From 2006 to 2009 the museum was project lead of a European project of 8 archaeological open-air museums, liveARCH. This project was co-authored by Roeland Paardekooper ! Luc Eekhout became director of the museum in September 2010.

MY DEAR READERS, WAS IT AN INTERESTING HISTORICAL ADVENTURE STROLLING THROUGH THE ‘ANCIENT’ TIMES IN THE PREHISTORIC VILLAGE ?PL. OFFER COMMENTS ON YOUR EXPERIENCE IN THE EINDHOVEN MUSEUM