Leiden Observatory

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.

Leiden University (abbreviated as LEI; Dutch: Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a reward to the city of Leiden for its defense against Spanish attacks during the Eighty Years' War, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the Netherlands, as well as one of the most reputed.Known for its historic foundations and emphasis on the social sciences, the university came into particular prominence during the Dutch Golden Age, when scholars from around Europe were attracted to the Dutch Republic due to its climate of intellectual tolerance and Leiden's international reputation. During this time, Leiden became the home to individuals such as René Descartes, Rembrandt, Christiaan Huygens, Hugo Grotius, Baruch Spinoza and Baron d'Holbach. The university has seven academic faculties and over fifty subject departments while housing more than 40 national and international research institutes. Its historical primary campus consists of buildings scattered across the college town of Leiden, while a second campus located in The Hague houses a liberal arts college and several of its faculties. It is a member of the Coimbra Group, the Europaeum, and a founding member of the League of European Research Universities. Leiden University consistently ranks among the top 100 universities in the world by prominent international ranking tables. It was placed top 50 worldwide in thirteen fields of study in the 2020 QS World University Rankings: classics & ancient history, politics, archaeology, anthropology, history, pharmacology, law, public policy, public administration, religious studies, arts & humanities, linguistics, modern languages and sociology.The university has produced twenty-one Spinoza Prize Laureates and sixteen Nobel Laureates, including Enrico Fermi and Albert Einstein. It is closely associated with the Dutch royal family, with Queen Juliana, Queen Beatrix and King Willem-Alexander being alumni. Ten prime ministers of the Netherlands are also alumni, including incumbent Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Internationally, Leiden University is associated with several leaders, including a President of the United States, two NATO secretaries general, a president of the International Court of Justice and a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

The Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (Dutch: Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, lit. 'Royal Institute for the Linguistics, Geography and Ethnology', abbreviated: KITLV) at Leiden was founded in 1851. Its objective is the advancement of the study of the anthropology, linguistics, social sciences, and history of Southeast Asia, the Pacific Area, and the Caribbean. Special emphasis is laid on the former Dutch colonies of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), Suriname, and the Dutch West Indies (the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba). Its unique collection of books, manuscripts, prints and photographs attracts visiting scholars from all over the world. On July 1, 2014, the management of the collection was taken over by Leiden University Libraries.

Leiden University Libraries is a library founded in 1575 in Leiden, Netherlands. It is regarded as a significant place in the development of European culture: it is a part of a small number of cultural centres that gave direction to the development and spread of knowledge during the Enlightenment. This was due particularly to the simultaneous presence of a unique collection of exceptional sources and scholars. Holdings include approximately 5,200,000 volumes, 1,000,000 e-books, 70,000 e-journals, 2,000 current paper journals, 60,000 Oriental and Western manuscripts, 500,000 letters, 100,000 maps, 100,000 prints, 12,000 drawings and 300,000 photographs. The library manages the largest collections worldwide on Indonesia and the Caribbean. Furthermore, Leiden University Libraries is the only heritage organization in The Netherlands with three registrations of documents in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. "Est hic magna commoditas bibliothecae ut studiosi possint studere" —Josephus Justus Scaliger"The greatest advantage of the library is that those who want to study, can study."

The Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (English: National Museum of Antiquities) 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 (prehistoric, Roman and Medieval) Netherlands.

The Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (National Museum of Natural History) was a museum on the Rapenburg in Leiden, the Netherlands. It was founded in 1820 by Royal Decree from a merger of several existing collections. This happened on the initiative of Coenraad Jacob Temminck, who saw the museum primarily as a research institute for the University of Leiden. The total collection was already quite large at the time, and continued to grow from foreign expeditions and by obtaining private collections from inheritances. The location is currently used by the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden.

The International Association for Assyriology (IAA) is a non-profit, non-political organization founded in July 2003, and seated in Leiden that "the fields of Cuneiform Studies, ancient Near Eastern History and Archaeology on an international basis and to act as a representative body for these fields in relationship to national, international and private institutions, as well as the general public".According to the Union of International Associations, this organization was founded in "July 2003, London (UK), during International Congress of Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology (RAI)" and "registered in accordance with Dutch law."The IAA makes an annual congress, the Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale that assembles scholars from all the world at centres of Near Eastern research. Associations and societies are affiliated like The American Oriental Society, British Institute for the Study of Iraq, Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, The Israel Society for Assyriology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies and La Société pour l’étude du Proche-Orient ancien.

The Bibliotheca Thysiana was erected in 1655 to house the book collection of the lawyer Johannes Thysius (1621–1653). Upon his early death, he left a legacy of 20,000 guilders for the building of a public library ("tot publycque dienst der studie") with a custodian's dwelling. Designed by the architect Arent van ‘s-Gravensande, the building follows the Dutch Classical style and is regarded as one of the jewels of Dutch 17th-century architecture. Bibliotheca Thysiana is one of the Top 100 Dutch heritage sites. It is distinguished by its balanced proportions and the purity of its Ionic order on top of a high basement. The Bibliotheca Thysiana is the only surviving 17th century example in the Netherlands of a building that was designed as a public library. It is quite extraordinary that a complete private 17th century library has been preserved and thus offers a good impression of the book collection of a young, learned bibliophile from the period of late Humanism. The collection contains about 2,500 books and thousands of pamphlets in all scientific fields. The library also houses one of the 14 still existing bookwheels in the world. The library has a separate special collection of several hundred books from and about Emanuel Swedenborg.

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 siege of Leiden occurred during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War in 1573 and 1574, when the Spanish under Francisco de Valdez attempted to capture the rebellious city of Leiden, South Holland, the Netherlands. The siege failed when the city was successfully relieved in October 1574.

Leiden Law School is the law school, and one of the seven faculties, of Leiden University. Teaching and research in the school take place across campuses in Leiden and The Hague in the Netherlands. Instruction in law began with the university's founding in 1575. Alongside the disciplines of theology and medicine, it was considered a 'higher' faculty of great importance. It also established itself as the most international faculty due, originally, to the proportion of academics arriving from Germany in the mid-17th century. The law school has played a substantial role in wider Dutch society from its earliest years, being consulted in an official capacity on all manner of subjects from wills to piracy and privateering. The school's present form has its roots in the 1980s when a reformation of the division of legal disciplines took place. Sacrifices were made in the 'meta-legal' disciplines, e.g. jurisprudence and sociology of law, to focus on 'positive law', particularly civil and international law which are considered traditional fields of strength of the law school. The faculty completed its move into the refurbished Kamerlingh Onnes Building in Leiden in 2004 where it is housed to this day.Annually, the school has an intake of approximately 900 Bachelor's degree students and 1000 Master's and Advanced Master's degree students. Around 425 staff are employed in academic and administrative roles with approximately 325 in a teaching role. Approximately 18% of the academic staff are from outwith the Netherlands. The majority of school activity takes place in Leiden, the minority based in The Hague is chiefly within the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies on the Campus The Hague.

The Gemeenlandshuis van Rijnland on the Breestraat in Leiden is the oldest Gemeenlandshuis of the Netherlands that kept its function until the current century. Currently, it is still in use by the Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland, but only for meetings and special occasions. Their day-to-day seat of water management is housed today on the Archimedesweg in Leiden.