Leiden

Looking for reasons to visit Leiden? This charming city is full of history.

Leiden is home to the oldest university in the Netherlands, founded in 1575, as well as the country’s oldest botanical garden, the Hortus Botanicus. It was here that the first tulips were planted in the Low Countries, sparking the beginning of a floral legacy.

Leiden also gave the world one of its greatest painters: Rembrandt van Rijn was born and educated here. Art collector Thomas Kaplan, who fell in love with Rembrandt’s work at the age of six, named his famous Leiden Collection after the master's birth city. But Rembrandt isn’t the only artistic genius from Leiden. Lucas van Leyden, Jan Lievens, Jan Steen, Gerard Dou, Jan van Goyen, David Bailly, and Frans van Mieris are all celebrated masters of the Dutch 17th century. Some of their works are in the collection of De Lakenhal Museum.

And there’s more: Leiden was also a temporary home to the Pilgrim Fathers. Fleeing religious persecution, they lived in the city for about ten years before many of them set sail for the New World aboard the Mayflower in 1620. Not all of them left—some, including their spiritual leader Rev. John Robinson, remained in Leiden. He is buried in the Pieterskerk, a site you can still visit today.

So: are you convinced to visit Leiden?