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As everywhere in the country, Koningsdag is celebrated on 27 April.
City Hall
The old renaissance façade facing Breestraat is dating from 1597. A newer building lying behind this façade (facing Nieuwe Rijn) was built to replace the older one, destroyed in a fire in 1929. The grand staircase on the Breestraat side is often the backdrop for wedding photos. On the Breestraat side, there is also the “proclamation chair”, a small staircase leading up to a raised platform against a blank wall. In the days before newspapers, television, or the internet, the city council would use this platform to make important announcements, such as ordinances, warnings, or sentences.
Fort of Leiden
An old shell keep dated back to 11th century. This elevated borough is freely accessible and right in the heart of Leiden. After climbing the stairways you can walk around and enjoy the magnificent views of Leiden from above.
Academy Building
The old university building still used for ceremonies and a few studies.
The Church of St. Peter (the patron saint of the city) is a 16th-century church, in late-Gothic style. A feature which Americans will find interesting is that this church is associated with the Pilgrim Fathers, whose leader John Robinson, lived in the nearby Pieterskerkchoorsteeg (house is marked with a plaque). The church features a small exhibition on the Pilgrims in Leiden. People buried here include the physician Boerhaave, the painter Jan Steen (of Rijksmuseum fame) and the Pilgrim leader Robinson.
Dedicated to St Pancras and located at the site of an earlier wooden chapel dating from 1314. Construction started in 1377 but parts the building were left lower than had been planned when construction was halted in the 16th century. Houses were built against its walls during the 17th century. Inside you can find a lying tombstone belonging to the tomb of Justinus van Nassau, illegitimate child of William of Orange.
It was the home office of the first water management body in the Netherlands. It is now a meetings venue.