Things to do in Leiden
Top sights and attractions to build your days around once you know when to go.
Alphen aan den Rijn
Alphen aan den Rijn is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The city is situated on the banks of the river Oude Rijn, where the River Gouwe branches off. The municipality had a population of 112,587 in 2021, and covers an area of 132.50 km2 (51.16 sq mi), of which 6.27 km2 (2.42 sq mi) is water.
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Naturalis Biodiversity Center is a national museum of natural history and a research center on biodiversity in Leiden, Netherlands. It was named the European Museum of the Year 2021. Although its current name and organization are relatively recent, the history of Naturalis can be traced back to the early 1800s. Its collection includes approximately 42 million specimens, making it one of the largest natural history collections in the world.
Rijksmuseum van Oudheden
The Rijksmuseum van Oudheden is the national archaeological museum of the Netherlands, located in Leiden. It grew out of the collection of Leiden University and still closely co-operates with its Faculty of Archaeology. The museum calls itself "the national centre for archaeology" and focuses on ancient Egypt, the ancient Near East, the classical world of Greece, Etruria and Rome and the early Netherlands.
Wereldmuseum Leiden
Wereldmuseum Leiden is a Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands located in the university city of Leiden. As of 2014, the museum, along with Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, in Amsterdam, and Wereldmuseum Rotterdam, together make up the National Museum of World Cultures.
Temple of Taffeh
The Temple of Taffeh is an ancient Roman Egyptian temple currently located in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, the Netherlands. The temple was originally built between 25 BCE and 14 CE as part of the Roman fortress known as Taphis, in Egypt. The Egyptian government donated the temple to the Netherlands as a sign of gratitude for their participation in the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia. It is one of the few works of ancient Egyptian architecture relocated outside Egypt and the only one of its kind in the Netherlands.
Hortus botanicus Leiden
The Hortus botanicus of Leiden is the oldest botanical garden of the Netherlands, and one of the oldest in the world. It is located in the southwestern part of the historical centre of the city, between the Academy building and the old Leiden Observatory building.
Rijksmuseum Boerhaave
Rijksmuseum Boerhaave is a museum of the history of science and medicine, based in Leiden, Netherlands. The museum hosts a collection of historical scientific instruments from all disciplines, but mainly from medicine, physics, and astronomy.
Corpus
The Corpus Museum is a human biology interactive museum, located in Oegstgeest, near Leiden, in the Netherlands.
Matilo
Matilo or Matilone was once a Roman fort (castellum) in modern-day Leiden. Positioned on the southern banks of the Oude Rijn, it served to protect the Roman borders in the province of Germania Inferior. On the Peutinger map, it lies between the encampments of Albaniana and Praetorium Agrippinae (Valkenburg). The seventh-century Ravenna Cosmography cites the name in the accusative case as Matellionem.
Pieterskerk
The Pieterskerk is a late-Gothic Dutch Protestant church in Leiden dedicated to Saint Peter. It is known today as the church of the Pilgrim Fathers, where the pastor John Robinson was buried. It is also the burial place of the scientist Willebrord Snellius.
The Hague Netherlands Temple
The Hague Netherlands Temple is the 114th operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, located on the outskirts of The Hague, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands. It was the church's eighth temple built in Europe, the only temple in the Netherlands. The intent to build the temple was announced on August 16, 1999, by the First Presidency in a letter to local leaders. Services in the temple are held in Dutch, French, and English. Other non-native speakers can follow the services simultaneously in their own language via headphones.
Museum De Lakenhal
Museum De Lakenhal is the city museum of fine art and history in Leiden, Netherlands. Founded in 1874, its collection ranges from early works by Rembrandt van Rijn and Lucas van Leyden's Last Judgement to modern classics of De Stijl and artworks created by contemporary artists such as Claudy Jongstra, Atelier van Lieshout. One notable collection is that of fijnschilder paintings from the Dutch Golden Age. Besides its permanent collection, the museum runs temporary exhibitions and public events.
Places from Wikidata and Wikipedia.
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