City of Leiden, Mill 'de Valk'

LEIDEN:


The city I was born and raised:

The City of Leiden has a rich history. Most notable was the brave defense by its inhabitants during the siege by Spanish troops, and their liberation on the 3rd of October 1574 after months of hunger and disease. The 3rd of October is still celebrated by eating herring, white bread, and hutspot.

Leiden boomed in the 17th century when it was the second largest city in Holland, after Amsterdam.
The beautiful city center with its canals and singels is still dominated by various monuments, 17th century mansions and facades. Famous buildings include the Lakenhal, Burcht, Pieterskerk, Hooglandse Kerk, Academy building, and two old city gates.
The city also has a great many rustic courts (hofjes), founded as alms houses, but now partly occupied by students.

The city has a variety of well-known museums, such as the National Museum of Antiquities, the Ethnology Museum and the Municipal Lakenhal Museum with paintings of Jan Steen, Lucas van Leyden and Rembrandt, who was born in Leiden.
The Boerhaave Museum, the National Museum of the History of Science and Medicine, deserves special attention. It was recently housed in the restored Caecilia Hospital, where Herman Boerhaave gave his famous bedside teaching.
The museum has in its collections the early microscope of Van Leeuwenhoek, clocks and other instruments of Chr. Huygens and the helium refrigeration equipment of Kamerlingh Onnes.
Many of its astronomical exhibits are centered on instruments on loan from the Sterrewacht.

Leiden is now a medium size city (111,000 inhabitants) in the west of The Netherlands, with excellent connections to Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, The Hague, and Rotterdam. This offers the unique possibility of profiting from the culture and pleasure that these cities have to offer, in addition to the museums and the pubs of Leiden itself.
Many new office buildings signify Leiden's participation in economic growth and activity.

In the immediate vicinity there are great opportunities for recreation: the North Sea beach and dunes, lakes for sailing and windsurfing, and in spring the richly colored tulip fields.








The relief of Leiden:
'Here's a knife. Go ahead and eat me.' These are legendary words spoken by the mayor of Leiden to his starving citizins in 1574 when they were about to surrender to the Spanish.
His heroic behaviour kept them alive, resulting in the Relief of Leiden. To express his appreciation, William of Orange gave the town its university, thereby laying the foundation for Leiden to become a museum town.

To end the siege by the Spanish, the Prince of Orange gave orders to open the dikes. When the water approached Leiden on 2 October 1574, the Spanish fled en masse.
A boy named Cornelis Joppenszoon sneaked through the gates to Lammenschans to see if they had really left. All he found was a smouldering fire with a stew of carrots, onions and meat simmering on top. This hutspot has since been associated with Leiden ever since.
The relief of Leiden is celebrated each year on October 2nd and 3rd all over the city, there will be live music, a parade and fair etc.








Museums in Leiden:
National Museum of Antiquities
Museum Boerhaave
Naturalis



Homepage of the city of Leiden









Back to:
Monica's page
Dutch info page
index
HOME







e-mail