Everything about Leiden totally explained
» "Leyden" redirects here. For other uses, see Leyden (disambiguation).
(in
English and
archaic Dutch also
Leyden) is a city and
municipality in the
province of
South Holland in the
Netherlands and has 118,000 inhabitants. It forms a single urban area with
Oegstgeest,
Leiderdorp,
Voorschoten,
Valkenburg,
Rijnsburg and
Katwijk, with 254,000 inhabitants. It is located on the
Old Rhine, close to the cities of
The Hague and
Haarlem. The recreational area of the Kaag Lakes (
Kagerplassen) lies just to the northeast of Leiden.
Its geographical coordinates are (in decimals: 52.16N, 4.49E).
RD coordinates (94, 464).
A university town since 1575, Leiden houses:
History
Although it's true that Leiden is an old city, its claimed connection with
Roman Lugdunum Batavorum is spurious; Roman Lugdunum is actually the very close-by modern town of
Katwijk, whereas the Roman settlement near modern Leiden was called Matilo. However, there was a Roman fortress in Leiden in the 4th century.
Leiden formed on an artificial hill at the confluence of the rivers Oude and Nieuwe Rijn (Old and New Rhine). In the oldest reference to this, from circa 860, the settlement was called
Leithon. The landlord of Leiden, situated in a stronghold on the hill, was initially subject to the Bishop of Utrecht but around 1100 the
burgraves became subject to the county of Holland. This county got its name in 1101 from a domain near the stronghold:
Holtland or
Holland.
Leiden was sacked in 1047 by Emperor
Henry III. Early 13th century,
Ada, Countess of Holland took refuge here when she was fighting in a civil war against her uncle,
William I, Count of Holland. He besieged the stronghold and captured Ada.
Leiden received
city rights in 1266. In 1389, its population had grown to about 4000 persons.
Siege of 1420
In 1420, during the
Hook and Cod wars,
Duke John of Bavaria along with his army marched from
Gouda in the direction of Leiden in order to conquer the city since Leiden didn't pay the new
Count of Holland Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut, his niece and only daughter of
Count William VI of Holland. The army was well equipped and had some guns. Burgrave Filips of Wassenaar and the other local Hoekse noblemen assumed that the duke would besiege Leiden first and send small units out to conquer the surrounding citadels. But John of Bavaria chose to attack the citadels first. He rolled the cannons with his army but one too heavy went per ship. By firing at the walls and gates with iron balls the citadels fell one by one. Within a week John of Bavaria conquered the castles of Poelgeest, Ter Does, Hoichmade, de Zijl, ter Waerd, Warmond and de Paddenpoel.
On
June 24 the army appeared before the walls of Leiden. On
August 17,
1420, after a two-month siege the city surrendered itself to John of Bavaria. The citadel earl Filips of Wassenaar was stripped of his offices and rights and lived out his last years in captivity.
16th and 17th centuries
Leiden flourished in the
16th and 17th century. At the close of the 15th century the
weaving establishments (mainly broadcloth) of Leiden were very important, and after the expulsion of the Spaniards Leiden
cloth, Leiden
baize and Leiden
camlet were familiar terms. In the same period, Leiden developed an important printing and publishing industry. The influential printer
Christoffel Plantijn lived there at one time. One of his pupils was
Lodewijk Elzevir (1547–1617), who established the largest bookshop and printing works in Leiden, a business continued by his descendants.
In 1572, the city sided with the Dutch revolt against
Spanish rule and played an important role in the
Eighty Years' War.
Besieged from May until October 1574 by the Spanish, Leiden was relieved by the cutting of the
dikes, thus enabling ships to carry provisions to the inhabitants of the flooded town. As a reward for the heroic defence of the previous year, the
University of Leiden was founded by
William I of Orange in 1575. Yearly on
October 3, the end of the siege is still celebrated in Leiden. Tradition tells that the citizens were offered the choice between a university and a certain exemption from taxes.
Leiden is also known as the place where the
Pilgrims (as well as some of the first settlers of
New Amsterdam)
(External Link
) (External Link) lived for a time in the early 17th century before their departure to Massachusetts and New Amsterdam in the
New World (External Link).
In the 17th century, Leiden prospered, in part because of the impetus to the textile industry by refugees from
Flanders. While the city had lost about a third of its 15000 citizens during the siege of 1574, it quickly recovered to 45000 inhabitants in 1622, and may have come near to 70000 circa 1670. During the Dutch Golden Era, Leiden was the second largest city of Holland, after Amsterdam.
From the late 17th century onwards Leiden slumped, mainly because of decline of the cloth industries. In the beginning of the 19th century the baize manufacture was altogether given up, although industry remained central to Leiden economy. This decline is painted vividly by the fall in population. The population of Leiden had sunk to 30,000 between 1796 and 1811, and in 1904 was 56,044.
19th and 20th century
On
12 January 1807, a catastrophe struck the city when a boat loaded with 17,400 kg of gunpowder blew up in the middle of Leiden. 151 persons were killed, over 2000 were injured and some 220 homes were destroyed. King
Louis Bonaparte personally visited the city to provide assistance to the victims.
In 1842, the railroad from Leiden to Haarlem was inaugurated and one year later the railway to
Den Haag was completed, resulting in some improvements to the social and economic situation. But the number of citizens was still not much above 50000 in 1900. Not until 1896 did Leiden begin to expand beyond its 17th century moats. After 1920, new industries were established in the city, such as the
canning and metal industries.
During
World War II, Leiden was hit hard by Allied bombardments. The areas surrounding the railway station and Marewijk were almost completely destroyed.
Leiden today
Today Leiden forms an important part of Dutch history. The end of the Spanish siege in 1574 is celebrated on 3 October by an annual parade, a day off, a fair and eating the traditional food of herring and white bread and
hutspot. However, the most important piece of Dutch history contributed by Leiden was the
Constitution of the Netherlands.
Johan Rudolf Thorbecke (1798–1872) wrote the Dutch Constitution in April 1848 in his house at Garenmarkt 9 in Leiden.
Leiden has important functions as a shopping and trade center for communities around the city. The University of Leiden is famous for its many developments including the famous
Leyden jar, a capacitor made from a glass jar, invented in Leiden by
Pieter van Musschenbroek in 1746. (It was actually first invented by
Ewald Georg von Kleist in Germany the year before, but the name "Leyden jar" stuck.) Another development was in
cryogenics:
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1913
Nobel prize winner in physics) liquefied
helium for the first time (1908) and later managed to reach a temperature of less than one degree above the
absolute minimum. Albert Einstein also spent some time at Leiden University during his early to middle career.
Rivers, canals and parks
The two branches of the
Old Rhine, which enter Leiden on the east, unite in the centre of the town. The town is further intersected by numerous small
canals with tree-bordered
quays. On the west side of the town, the
Hortus Botanicus and other gardens extend along the old
Singel, or outer canal. The
Van der Werff Park is named after the mayor
Pieter Adriaanszoon van der Werff, who defended the town against the Spaniards in 1574. The town was beleaguered for months and many died from hunger. According to legend van der Werff was accused by a frantic crowd of secretly hiding food reserves. He denied this vehemently and to prove his sincerity offered to cut off his arm to serve as food for those who nearly died from hunger. This made people back off, ashamed of their mistrust. The open space for the park was formed by the accidental
explosion of a ship loaded with
gunpowder in 1807, which destroyed hundreds of houses, including that of the
Elsevier family of
printers.
Buildings of interest
Because of the economic decline from the 17th to the early 20th century, much of the 16th and 17th century town centre is still intact.
Fortifications
At the strategically important junction of the two arms of the Old Rhine stands the old
castle De Burcht, a circular tower built on an earthen mound. The mound probably was a refuge against high water before a small wooden fortress was built on top of it in the 11th century. The citadel is a so-called
motte-and-bailey castle. Of Leiden's old
city gates only two are left, the
Zijlpoort and the
Morspoort, both dating from the end of the 17th century. Apart from one small watch tower on the Singel nothing is left of the town's
city walls. Another former
fortification is the
Gravensteen. Built as a
fortress in the 13th century it has since served as house, library and prison. Presently it's one of the University's buildings.
Churches
The chief of Leiden's numerous
churches are the
Hooglandsche Kerk (or the church of
St Pancras, built in the 15th century and containing a monument to
Pieter Adriaanszoon van der Werff) and the
Pieterskerk (church of
St Peter (1315) with monuments to
Scaliger,
Boerhaave and other famous scholars. From a historical perspective the
Marekerk is interesting too.
Arent van 's Gravesande designed the church in 1639. Other fine examples of his work in Leiden are
De Lakenhal, in which the municipal museum is located, and the
Bibliotheca Thysiana. The growing town needed another church and the Marekerk was the first church to be built in Leiden (and in Holland) after the
Reformation. It is an example of
Dutch Classicism. In the drawings by Van 's Gravesande the
pulpit is the centrepiece of the church. The pulpit is modelled after the one in the
Nieuwe Kerk at
Haarlem (designed by
Jacob van Campen). The building was first used in 1650, and is still in use.
Marekerk
University buildings
The town centre contains many buildings that are in use by the
University of Leiden. The
Academy Building is housed in a former 16th century
convent. Among the institutions connected with the university are the national institution for East Indian languages,
ethnology and
geography; the
botanical gardens, founded in 1587; the
observatory (1860); the museum of antiquities (
Rijksmuseum van Oudheden); and the
ethnographical museum, of which
P. F. von Siebold's
Japanese collections was the nucleus (
Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde). The
Bibliotheca Thysiana occupies an old
Renaissance building of the year
1655. It is especially rich in legal works and
vernacular chronicles. Noteworthy are also the many special collections at
Leiden University Library among which those of the
Society of Dutch Literature (1766) and the collection of casts and engravings. In recent years the university has built the
Bio Science Park at the city's outskirts to accommodate the Science departments.
Other buildings
Some other interesting buildings are the town hall (
Stadhuis), a 16th century building that was badly damaged by a fire in 1929); the
Gemeenslandshuis van Rynland (
1596, restored in 1878); the
weigh house (
Waag), built by
Pieter Post; the former court-house (
Gerecht); a corn-grinding windmill, now home to a museum (
Molen de Valk) (1743); the old
gymnasium (
Latijnse School) (1599) and the city carpenter's yard and
wharf (
Stadstimmerwerf) (1612), both built by
Lieven de Key (c. 1560–1627). Another building of interest is the "pesthuis", which was built at that time just outside the city for curing patients suffering the
bubonic plague. However, after it was built the feared disease didn't occur in the Netherlands anymore so it was never used for its original purpose, it now serves as the entrance of
Naturalis, one of the largest
natural history museums in the world. Oudt Leyden, the so called oldest pancake house (
pannekoekenhuis in
Dutch) in
Europe is home to its famous large pancakes and
Delft crockery, it's also known for serving the likes of
Winston Churchill and the
Dalai Lama.
Public transport
Bus lines
Connexxion Region West: (External Link)
Railway
Rail transport departure schedules (see also http://www.ns.nl ):
Tracks on Train station Leiden Centraal
RijnGouweLijn Light rail project (planned to be realised in 2010)
Leiden is on the planned route of the RijnGouweLijn, the Netherland's first Light rail project. Within Leiden its route would have been: Leiden Lammenschans - Korevaarstraat - Breestraat - stop Haarlemmerstraat - Stationsplein - Joop Walenkamptunnel - Albinusdreef (LUMC) - Sandfortdreef - Zernikedreef (Hogeschool) - (Einsteinweg) - Ehrenfestweg - (Plesmanlaan) - Transferium A44. This route, however, has been rejected by Leiden citizens in a referendum.
Famous inhabitants
» See also
The following is a selection of important Leidenaren throughout history:
Armin van Buuren, 1976-, World's number one DJ (trance) in 2007 by the DJMag
Johann Bachstrom, 1688–1742, writer, scientist and Lutherian theologian.
Herman Boerhaave, 1668–1738, humanist and physician.
Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, 1697–1770, anatomist.
William Brewster, 1567–1644, pilgrim.
Gerard Dou, 1613–1675, painter.
Cornelius Engelbrechtszoon, 1468–1533, painter.
Jan van Goyen, 1596–1656, painter.
John of Leiden, 1509?–1536, leader of the Anabaptist Münster Rebellion.
Lucas van Leyden, 1494–1533, engraver and painter.
Marinus van der Lubbe, 1909–1934, accused of setting fire to the Reichstag in Berlin.
Gabriel Metsu, 1629–1667, painter.
Frans Post, 1612–1680, painter.
Rembrandt van Rijn, 1606–1669, painter.
Jan Steen, 1626–1679, painter.
Theo van Doesburg, 1883–1931, painter, architect, writer.
Willebrord Snell, 1580–1626, astronomer and mathematician.
Johannes Diderik van der Waals, 1837–1923, physicist.
Hendrik Lorentz, 1853–1928, physicist.
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, 1853–1926, physicist.
Pieter Zeeman, 1865–1943, physicist.
Willem de Sitter, 1872–1934, mathematician, physicist, astronomer.
Paul Ehrenfest, 1880–1933, physicist.
Hendrik Casimir, 1909–2000, physicist.
Jan Hendrik Oort, 1900–1992, astronomer.
Willem Einthoven, 1860–1927, physician, physiologist.
Pieter Adriaanszoon van der Werff, 1529–1604, mayor of Leiden.
William II, 1228–1256, count of Holland, later also king of Germany.
Gottfried van Swieten, diplomat, friendship and collaboration with several great composers.
Town twinning
Leiden's twin towns are:
Buffalo City, South Africa
Juigalpa, Nicaragua
Krefeld, Germany
Oxford, England (United Kingdom)
Toruń, Poland
Miscellaneous
The coat of arms of Leiden is two red keys, crossed in an X-shape on a white background. These keys are those to the gates of heaven held by St.Peter, for whom a large church in the city center is named.
For a time Leiden held the title "The Coldest Place on Earth": in a laboratory, because of the developments in cryogenics that have happened there. Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1913 Nobel prize winner in physics) liquefied helium for the first time (1908), and later managed to reach a temperature of less than one degree above Absolute zero.
The following places and things are named after this city:
- Leyden, New York, USA
- Leyden, Massachusetts, USA
- Leyden High School District 212 in Franklin Park, Illinois, USA.
- Leiden scale, for measuring extreme low temperatures.
- Factor V Leiden is named after the city of Leiden where it was discovered in 1994.
- The Leyden jar, a capacitor made from a glass jar, was invented here by Pieter van Musschenbroek in 1746. It was actually first invented by Ewald Georg von Kleist the year before, but the name "Leyden jar" stuck.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Leiden'.
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