Leyden - De Burcht

The Burgsteeg leads to the Burcht (Castle), which is entered through a gateway displaying the figure of a lion with Leiden's coat of arms. About 1150 a 12m/40ft high mound of sand was built up here, at the confluence of the Old and the New Rhine, to provide a refuge from flooding; and additional protection was provided by a circuit of walls 35m/38yd in diameter, two canals, one at the foot of the hill and one rather farther away (the Hooglandse Kerkgracht, now filled in) and later a sentry-walk round the walls. A keep was planned but was never built. In the 17th century a tower was built bearing the arms of the burgomasters, who between 1651 and 1764 were also burgraves (governors of the castle). During the most recent restoration work