Leyden - Oude Vest

Farther west from Meermansburg, in Lange Mare (a former gracht, now filled in), stands the Marekerk, built between 1638 and 1648 by the city architect, Arent van 's Gravenzande. This was the first church built for the Reformed faith. The church, on an octagonal ground-plan, has a narrower upper part topped by a dome. It has a fine pulpit of 1647 and an organ of 1733 which was originally in St Pieterskerk. The sandstone doorway was the work of Jacob van Campen (1669).

At Oude Vest 159 is the Meermansburg (1683), Leiden's largest group of almshouses (30 in number), built by Maarten Ruyckhaver Meerman, a member of the board of the East India Company. In the handsome Regents' Room, the office of the manager of the almshouses, are an interesting collection of old portraits and a clay pipe museum (Pijpenkabinet).

On the north side of the Oude Vest, at Oude Singel 32, is the Municipal Museum, housed in the Lakenhal (Cloth Hall) built in 1638-40 and used for its original purpose until 1800, when it was converted into offices. In 1874, after restoration, it was opened as a museum. It has a collection of pictures which includes works by such leading 16th and 17th century artists as Gerard Dou, Jan van Goyen, Lucas van Leyden, Rembrandt and Jan Steen and a collection of applied and decorative art.

Farther along the Oude Vest is the Municipal Theater (Schouwburg). Beyond this is Vrouwenkerkstraat, leading into the district known as De Camp, in which there were a number of religious houses in the Middle Ages, as some of the street names still testify.