I think one of the first things I noticed was the buildings. Unlike Amsterdam, where the buildings are narrow and tall, the buildings in Leiden were a little wider. The attributes of the buildings that the professor told us about were the same, though: bricks were made locally out of the river mud, and the architecture was designed to prevent erosion and wear due to the frequent rain.
The Rhine River flows through here. Rembrandt’s full name is actually Rembrandt van Rijn, or “Rembrandt of the Rhine”. The famous painter was born here, and there is a memorial square dedicated to him. His parents were millers, which was a very important job considering that beer was safer to drink than the water at the time.
As said many times before in this blog, the Netherlands was a very wealthy nation by the 1600s, and this wealth would spread throughout the rest of the country. Everyone had paintings in their houses. One may ask, “Why would a wealthy person want paintings?” Well, if you were wealthy and had already bought all necessary items, what would you spend your money on? Probably things you didn’t really need as well. That’s not to say there weren’t instances of poverty, though. Social institutions were created for the benefit of destitute people (normally widowed women), and are still occupied today. The great wealth of the nation also contributed to the number of parish churches in the city: while most would have one or two, Leiden has three.
There is a historic archway that stood for territorial purposes. Beyond this would be the barracks and militia. Aside from the normal police, there would also be an option to be a part of a group of “honorary police”. This was a privilege usually reserved for wealthy townsfolk. In the barracks, the honorary police could also practice using their weapons.
The university is the main business of Leiden. Because it is so old, the university is actually split up in a number of different locations. The first building has a both a myth and reality to its formation.
Myth: When Leiden was besieged by Spain, they were forced to be on the defensive for many months, and the people began to starve. When the people were considering to open the gates so that they could eat, the leader supposedly said, “Chop off my arm and eat it." That sounds pretty epic...kind of like something out of 300 almost. But of course, that probably wasn't actually what happened.
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| THIS. IS. LEIDEN! |
The second building used for the university was a former Roman Catholic Church. After independence, Protestantism became the majority religion, and Catholicism was disallowed for all intensive purposes: while you cannot forbid people to follow a religion, you can forbid them to openly express this faith. The Catholic churches were confiscated and turned into different buildings, such as the university.
Many important figures have studied at or worked for the university. Einstein, for example, worked here for research on Kelvin temperature and absolute zero since he decided that the laboratories were “the coldest place in the world”. John Adams also studied here, since the Netherlands was one of the first nations to recognize the United States as its own separate country (aside from France). There is also a botanical garden dedicated to a certain Kleuzis, who introduced the tulip to the Netherlands. The studies of Leiden’s university were also affected by the colonies. Seeing as Indonesia has one of the largest Islamic populations in the world, Leiden became the center for Islamic Studies.
The Pilgrims that would later come to America were originally not welcomed in Amsterdam, so they were exiled into Leiden and lived there for a while. The printing press was especially important to them, as new ideas needed to be printed in order to be spread. Interestingly enough, the reason why the United States of America is called such is because originally, the “United States” would have referred to the Netherlands.
While the Netherlands as a whole is very flat, there are a few places with some dips and hills in Leiden. The city hall is located in the highest naturally occurring point in the city. A blue stone is also located in the street, and it is said that anything stated while standing on the stone is legally binding. The highest point within the entire city is a manmade hill on which a fortress structure is located. This is for two reasons. First, the Vikings were becoming more aggressive, and thus measures had to be taken to secure their city. Second, if the city were ever to flood, there needed to be a stronghold where both the people could flee to and the city documents could be stored for safekeeping. Fortunately, the fortress was never needed for such dire circumstances.
We then visited the Netherlands Center for Biodiversity. It was extremely interesting, as there were many levels explaining many things. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: the museum designs here are very innovative and engaging.
Today has been a pretty mellow day overall, but tomorrow is going to be a lot more busy (looking at the schedule, anyway).
Oh, right! Before I go, I should probably tell you the story about the title page, huh? A bunch of us (seven of us to be exact, hence the title) were sitting by the canal at lunch, and there was this duck that kept swimming back and forth in our general area. At one point, it decided it was fed up with us fawning over it and decided to show us whose territory it was. It almost flew up from the water onto the step. About half of us ran from the canal. The duck then decided it was bored and swam off.
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| I've got my eye on you, Sam. Photo by Zara Fernandez |
All right, time to sleep. Big day tomorrow!
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