Leyden Attractions

Information about nature on a wider scope is offered at the Naturalis. Over 10 million animal specimens, stones, minerals and fossils. The permanent exhibitions involve life on the planet Earth.

Close to the Latin School in Leyden, on the left, is the Pieterskerkgracht; at No. 9 (restored) is the headquarters of Ars Aemula Naturae, a painting and drawing society.

Beyond the Coach Builders' Museum is the Groenhazengracht, on the opposite side of which is a doorway (1645) with a figure of St Joris (George) and the dragon. This is the entrance to the old Doelenkaserne (barracks) and Arsenal. The whole complex is now occupied by the University.

At Rapenburg 8 is the Bibliotheca Thysiana, an important library housed in a handsome building erected by the city architect, Arent van 's Gravenzande, in 1655. The house at No. 31 was occupied by the famous 18th century physician Herman Boerhaave.

From the Visbrug, Maarsmansteeg runs southwest to Breestraat. At the intersection with Pieterskerkkoorsteeg and Meermansteeg, set in the paving, is a large hexagonal blue stone, the Blauwe Steen, which in 1321 marked the central point in the town. Here in the Middle Ages criminals condemned to death by the municipal council were executed (those condemned by the Count being executed in front of the Gravensteen), and here too cloth found to be of poor quality was burned.

South of the Windmill Museum by way of the Nieuwe Beestenmarkt and the Turfmarktsbrug (bridge) is the Turfmarkt. To the right is the Blauwspoortsbrug, which until 1610 served as a town gate at the northwest corner of the walls.

On the right of Vrouwenkerkstraat are the Boerhaave Zalen (Boerhaave Rooms), originally a monastery built at the end of the 16th century, which later became a hospital for plague victims and the mentally ill. Since the 18th century physician Boerhaave taught here, it is regarded as Leiden's first university teaching hospital.

Farther along Noordeinde is the Wagenmakersmuseum (Coach builders' Museum), housed in the workshops where the last coach builder in Leiden was working around 1917.

To the left of Morspoort, on the site of the old Morspoort barracks, is a windmill (De Put), built here in 1987 on the model of an old mill of 1640.

A number of events occur around the year that are of interest to visitors.

Behind the Town Hall is the Vismarkt (Fish Market). It has a fountain with square slabs of hard stone on which the fish were cleaned. Beyond this is the Korenbeursbrug; its original name was Korenbrug (Corn Bridge), but since in earlier times corn was bought and sold here the citizens of Leiden call it the Korenbeursbrug (Corn Exchange Bridge). The bridge was roofed in 1825.

From the Burcht Nieuwstraat runs southeast. In this street is the former Heereslogement (1652; beautiful inner courtyard, garden, gallery on upper floor), now occupied by the Municipal Library of Leyden.

Leiden Jazz Week.
This annual festival takes place in January and presents a broad range of performers.

From the University Buildings in Leyden it is a short distance by way of the Pieterskerkhof to Kloksteeg; at No. 21 is the Jean Pesijnshofje, founded in 1683 by Jean Pesijn. The site had previously been occupied by the Groene Poort or Engelse Poort (Green Gate, English Gate), in which John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrim Fathers, lived until his death in 1625.

At the corner of Lokhorstraat and Schoolstraat is the Latin School (Latijnse School), built in 1599, with a striking stepped gable and red and white window shutters. The school's most celebrated pupil was Rembrandt (between 1614 and 1620).

The origin of the National Museum of Coins and Medals in Leyden goes back to the 18th century. There are coins from sunken ships, African money bracelets, old coin scales, gold medals and engraved gems - all on exhibit.

Near the Valk windmill, at Steenstraat 1 in Leiden, is the National Museum of Ethnology (Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde), the oldest of its kind in Europe. Founded in 1837, it was housed in a number of separate buildings all over the town until 1937, when it found a new home in the former University Hospital. Its extensive collections come from all over the world, particularly from Indonesia and Japan. The first Japanese items were collected by F. van Siebold, a doctor who lived and worked in Japan from 1823 to 1829.

The Modelbouwmuseum (Miniature / Model Museum) in Leiden contains hundreds of models and modeling techniques in various categories including railroads, airplanes, cars, building and dollhouses. The regular exhibits change occasionally and special exhibits occur at least 3 times per year.

In the Oude Varkensmarkt, which opens off Noordeinde, is the Pieter Loridanshofje (No. 1), founded in 1655 by a wealthy wool-dyer named Pieter Loridan. Occupied for many years by refugees from Belgium and France, it has been renovated and now provides lodgings for students.

At the end of Morsstraat stands the handsome Morspoort (with drawbridge), one of the two surviving fortified town gates of 1669 built by Willem van der Helm.

THIS ATTRACTION BECAME PART OF THE MUSEUM "NATURALIS".

Farther west from the Documentation Center, in Doezastraat (entrance in Raamsteeg), can be found the Natural History Museum (Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie; open only to scholars and students with the permission of the museum authorities).

Farther west of the Musuem of Ethnology in Leyden is the Pesthuis, built in 1658 to house plague victims. Until a few years ago it was occupied by the Army Museum, the collection of which has now been transferred to Delft. It was restored in 1989.

From Hortus Botanicus, Boisotkade leads to the Municipal Archives and the Pilgrim Fathers Documentation Center (Documentatie Centrum) at Vliet 45. The Mayflower's voyage to America started from the Vliet.

On one side of the gracht is the Schachtenhofje (1671), with a restored gatehouse. In the courtyard is a pump of 1730 which dispenses both rainwater and groundwater.

Nieuwstraat runs into the Hooigracht, at No. 9 of which is the St Annahofje or Aalmoeshuis (1492- 1507), a beautiful group of almshouses, with a chapel containing the only altar left unscathed during the iconoclastic fury of 1566.

At the corner of Caeciliastraat and Lijsbethsteeg is the St Elisabethsgasthuis, a hospice built in 1428 by Jan Dirk Coenen. From 1773 until 1970, when it was restored, it served as an almshouse and later as an old people's home.

in Leyden , on the other side of the Rhine (here known as the Galgewater, "Gallows Water"), on the left, is the Stadstimmerwerf, the workshops (1612) of the municipal carpenters. On the right is the Weddesteeg, with a tablet marking the site of Rembrandt's birthplace. At the end of the street is Noordeinde, which leads to the Witte Singel, with a bronze bust of Rembrandt.

At the Witte Singel are the new University Library and the Faculty of Letters. The library is one of the oldest and largest in the Netherlands, with some 1.5million volumes and 20,000 manuscripts.

On the far side of the Nieuwsteegbrug (bridge) is the Nieuwsteeg, with some of the more modern buildings of the University. Among distinguished scholars who worked here were the physicists Professor H. A. Lorenz (1853-1928; Nobel Prize 1903) and Professor H. Kamerlingh Onnes (1853-1926; Nobel Prize 1913). Lorenz, founder of the theory of electrons, prepared the way for Einstein's theory of relativity. Kamerlingh Onnes succeeded in liquefying helium, producing the lowest temperatures so far recorded, and discovered the superconductivity of metals.

Behind the Natural History Museum lies the small Van der Werf Park, with a monument commemorating Van der Werf, burgomaster of Leiden at the time of the Spanish siege. The park was laid out in an area devastated by the explosion in 1807 of an ammunition ship which, contrary to regulations, had been moored in the center of the town. On the east side of the park is the Institute of Geology.

Leyden's Mandenmakersstraat leads to the Aalmarkt, in which is the municipal Weigh House (Waag), built by Pieter Post in 1658. The gable is decorated with sculpture by Rombout Verhulst. The Weigh House is now used for exhibitions.

The Windmill Museum in Leyden lies southeast of the Central Station, with several parking lots in the immediate vicinity. It is housed in a seven-story stone flour mill of 1743 (De Valk, the "Falcon"), standing on higher ground, which originally formed part of the town's fortifications. In the early 17th century there were 19 windmills on the town walls (and there are still 30 within the city limits). After restoration in 1964 the mill (including the dwelling house of the last miller) was opened to the public as a museum.

North of Leyden's Museum of Geology and Mineralogy the Kerkbrug, a 19th century cast-iron bascule bridge, crosses the Oude Rijn. Just beyond this is Haarlemmerstraat, which runs east and leads alongside the picturesque harbor to the second of the two surviving town gates, the Zijlpoort (1667). The other gates were pulled down in the 19th century.