450 Years of Leiden University: A Tour of Rapenburg

Leiden University was founded in 1575 and is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university has seven faculties (six in Leiden and one in The Hague), with 33.701 students enrolled in 2025. Who doesn't know the Leiden Tourist Office as the first point of contact when entering the city via the station? And the two museums: the RMO and the Siebold House? This fifth blog covers: A tour of the Rapenburg featuring two museums and famous people.

VVV Leiden

You will find the VVV Leiden at Stationsweg 26, between the restaurants and the ANWB. You can visit the VVV with all your questions about Leiden. Whether it concerns ideas for day trips, a map, boat rentals, or tips for delicious food, we have the answers here! You can also ask questions about public transport or topping up your balance on your OV-card here, as the Qbuzz Store is also located within the VVV. Last but not least, you can also come here for original Leiden gifts, such as etchings, puzzles, and souvenirs, or to purchase various gift vouchers, such as the VVV Gift Card and the 'Trakteer Jezelf op Leiden' card. Come and visit the VVV. You will be assisted by a very friendly VVV team who can tell you in detail how to plan your day in Leiden. The 'Rondje Rapenburg' (Rapenburg Loop) is available as a free foldable map. Highly recommended for a first introduction to parts of Leiden University: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/dossiers/450-jaar/rondje-rapenburg  

Rapenburg Loop

The Rapenburg is the most famous canal in the Dutch city of Leiden. The canal runs from the intersection of Breestraat, Kort Rapenburg, and Noordeinde to the bridge near Doezastraat, from which point the water continues as the Steenschuur and flows past the Van der Werfpark. Originally, the Rapenburg extended to the Galgewater (Oude Rijn). The Kort Rapenburg, the section between Noordeinde and Galgewater, was covered over in 1911 to accommodate the increasing traffic.

Until 1389, the Rapenburg was a moat on the southern edge of Leiden's city center; the name 'Rapenburg' is first mentioned in 1360. No explanation has been found for the origin of the name, neither in Leiden nor in Amsterdam, which has an island with the same name. Many stately buildings are situated along the canal, many of which were built by contractor Willem Wijmoth. The window frames of these monumental houses are consistently painted in the same shade of dark green (monument green) and cream-white. In painting terminology, people in Leiden therefore speak of 'Rapenburg colors'. The Academy Building, the administrative offices, and various other buildings of Leiden University are also located here, as well as many student residences, the National Museum of Antiquities, the Leiden Botanical Garden, and the Siebold House. The Rapenburg Concert is held annually on the waters of the Rapenburg.

The beginning of the Rapenburg on the Breestraat side is marked by the Gijselaarsbank. This bench, designed by Willem Coenraad Brouwer, was placed in 1920 as a tribute to Nicolaas Charles de Gijselaar, mayor of Leiden between 1910 and 1927, in gratitude for his good care of the population during the First World War. Incidentally, the mayor himself was the chairman of the committee that had the bench installed. In 1983, the bench was removed for repairs and reinstalled in 1985 after a motion regarding this was specifically adopted by the city council.  

Rijksmuseum van Oudheden

The National Museum of Antiquities (RMO) is the national archaeology museum of the Netherlands. It is housed in an old mansion and beguinage, a monumental building complex at Rapenburg 28. King William I founded the RMO in 1818 and appointed the Leiden professor of archaeology CJC Reuvens (1793-1835) as its first director. The museum manages collections of archaeological artifacts originating from cultures that have had a major influence on our contemporary culture. In addition, the museum also manages the masterpieces of Dutch archaeology dating from prehistory to the end of the Middle Ages. The collection is divided into a number of sections, a division that has been implemented in the permanent exhibition. The sections are:

• Egypt
• Near East
• the Classical World (Greece, Etruria, Roman Empire)
• Netherlands (Prehistoric Netherlands, Roman Netherlands, Medieval Netherlands)

There are also special activities for children: for example, it is possible to go on a scavenger hunt through the museum, and there are guided tours for children on special days. During school holidays, there are educational activities for children. In addition to these private activities, the National Museum of Antiquities has an educational function involving visits by school classes. The aim of this is to introduce them to Antiquity.  

Japanmuseum SieboldHuis

Japanmuseum SieboldHuis, or SieboldHuis, is a museum located at Rapenburg 19. The museum displays objects collected by Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796–1866) between 1823 and 1829 during his stay on Deshima, the Dutch trading post near Nagasaki in Japan. It also functions as a museum of Japanese culture. Von Siebold was deeply interested in all aspects of Japanese nature and culture, and his collection is therefore very diverse. The SieboldHuis features a permanent exhibition of maps, rocks, animals and plants, everyday objects, and art. In addition, rotating exhibitions offer a varied program of Japanese art. For several years, the SieboldHuis has organized the Japan Market on Rapenburg in the spring. All kinds of Japanese items are displayed and sold at this market. There are also various activities such as musical performances and cosplay. In 2012, this house served as the model for the 93rd KLM Delft Blue house.

Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold He was born in Würzburg in 1796. In 1822, he became a Medical Major in the Dutch East Indies Army, stationed in Batavia. There, he soon attracted the attention of the Governor-General. Siebold seemed the ideal person to send to Japan, a country with a central place in changing world politics. Until that moment, Japan was an unknown power with strictly closed borders. Trade was permitted, but was limited to a trading post on the artificial island of Deshima, built specifically for this purpose.  

In 1823, Siebold landed on Deshima with the assignment to gather information about Japan, trade with Japan, and the Japanese political system. Foreigners were not allowed to leave Deshima, but as a doctor, other channels were open to him. After curing an influential local official, he was allowed to open a small clinic outside the trading post and make house calls to Japanese patients. Siebold focused on collecting plants, animals, seeds, and all kinds of everyday objects, and employed artists to record animals, objects, and customs on paper. During his excursions, Siebold also collected as much natural material as possible. His pupils brought back plants, animals, and rocks for him, and he hired three hunters to collect special animals for him.

After a months-long journey to Edo, present-day Tokyo, where Siebold acquired maps of Japan alongside many objects, he was to depart immediately for Java upon his return to Deshima. The items were sent to Deshima in advance. However, the maps were discovered, and Siebold was accused of spying for the Russian state. After all, possession of maps was strictly forbidden. Following a period of house arrest and investigations, Siebold was permanently banished from Japan in October 1829. At that time, he did not yet know that this ban would later be lifted.

Parts of his collection had until then been kept in Leiden, Ghent, Antwerp, and Brussels. Siebold decided to settle in Leiden at Rapenburg number 19. From 1831, Siebold opened his collection to the public, and after some urging, King William I acted upon his previously expressed interest in the Siebold collection. The Hague collection 'Koninklijk Kabinet van Reldzaamheden', the collections of Blomhoff and Overmeer Fisscher, and Siebold's collection were eventually merged. To this end, Siebold's collection was purchased by the state, and the new museum became the predecessor of the current Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde (now: Wereldmuseum) in Leiden. Latest news: On February 18, the Vriendenloterij surprised the museum's director, Kris Schiermeier, with a cheque for 200.000 euros. With this amount, the museum can completely overhaul the permanent exhibition on the ground floor. Since the museum opened twenty years ago, nothing noteworthy has changed. For this adaptation, we are working closely with writer Annejet van der Zijl. She is currently working on a double biography of Franz von Siebold and his Japanese daughter Kusomoto Ine. Her book will be published here at the museum in September, and we intend to open our new exhibition immediately following that. Attention will also be paid to the relationship between slavery and Von Siebold. Read the news: https://www.sieboldhuis.org/nieuws/200-000-euro-voor-japanmuseum-sieboldhuis-nieuwe-museale-verhalen-mogelijk/  

Augustine

Leiden has 25 student associations. The Augustine (Leidse Vereniging Voor Studenten Augustinus is a student association in Leiden, founded in 1893. It is the second oldest and, with over 2000 members in 2024, the second largest student association in the city. Augustinus is named after the fourth-century bishop. Augustine of HippoThe restaurant is also accessible to non-members. Address: Rapenburg 24. Augustine of Hippo, also known as Saint Augustine, (354–430) was Bishop of Hippo, theologian, philosopher, and Church Father. He is considered the most important Church Father of the West. Among his best-known works are the Confessions and De civitate Dei.  

Ben Telders

Benjamin Marius (Ben) Telders (1903 – 1945) was a Dutch jurist and politician. He lived at Rapenburg 45. Telders was born the son of lawyer and attorney Wilhelm Albert Telders and Johanna Wilhelmina Vlielander Hein. After graduating from the Gymnasium Haganum in The Hague, he studied law at Leiden University from 1921, where he obtained his doctorate on May 6, 1927. Subsequently, he worked as a lawyer at his father's firm. In 1931, at a relatively young age, Telders was appointed extraordinary professor of international law at Leiden University; he delivered his inaugural lecture, entitled *De juridieke waardering van den oorlog* (The Juridical Valuation of War), on October 16 of that year. In 1935, the appointment was converted into that of a full professor. From 1938 onwards, he became involved in Dutch politics; at the age of 35, he became party chairman of the Liberal State Party. In particular, his fierce resistance, together with his colleague Cleveringa, against the dismissal of Jewish civil servants at Leiden University, in which he attempted to mobilize staff and students, led to his arrest by the German occupiers on December 18, 1940. He was successively held in the prison of Scheveningen, the concentration camp Buchenwald, the camp Vught, and the camp Sachsenhausen, until he ended up in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in February 1945. There, shortly before the liberation, he died at the age of 42 from the effects of typhus. In 1946, he was posthumously awarded the Resistance Cross.

On April 10, 2014, 10 of a total of 16 information boards about resistance fighters were unveiled in Oosterwei. In Oosterwei, a district in Gouda, 16 streets were named after resistance fighters following the Second World War and the reconstruction. Many residents of these streets knew very little about the resistance heroes after whom the streets were named. They and others ensured that an information board now stands in every street, so that the memory of these fighters remains alive.  

  To be continued..... With thanks to Frans Hemelop for his beautiful designs of Leiden personal stamps, which pass for works of art: https://hemelop.nl/  

<strong> More info: </strong>

450 years of Leiden University: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/dossiers/450-jaar Leiden University Top 450: https://top450.universiteitleiden.nl/ Alumni (incl. Guide, 45 milestones from 450 years) of Leiden University: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/alumni 450th anniversary edition of Mare, number 17/452025: https://www.mareonline.nl/assets/Uploads/Documenten/eff31e6eaf/Mare-17-48_Special.pdf Dies Natalis Celebration (program and report) on February 7, 2025: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/agenda/extra/2025/02/dies-natalis-2025# https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/nieuws/2025/02/dies-natalis-2025 Leiden celebrates – 450 years of parades, through March 2, 2025 (worth seeing and lots of posters): https://www.lakenhal.nl/nl/verhaal/450-jaar-optochten Leiden University Library: https://www.bibliotheek.universiteitleiden.nl/ VVV Leiden: https://www.visitleiden.nl/nl Rapenburg Loop: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/dossiers/450-jaar/rondje-rapenburg RMO: https://www.rmo.nl/ Sieboldhuis: https://www.sieboldhuis.org/ Augustine: https://www.lvvsaugustinus.nl/ Previous blogs 450 years of Leiden University: https://www.postzegelblog.nl/tag/450-jaar-universiteit-leiden/