Churches in Leiden
Leiden hosts many churches. From small clandestine churches to the huge Hooglandse Kerk. A special trail "langs de Leidse Kerken" which leads along most churches can be found at the VVV.
De Hooglandse Kerk
Leiden's Hooglandsekerk derives its name from its location on relatively high ground (hoge land) across the Nieuw Rijn River from the parish of the Pieterskerk. "High" in Leiden means a rise of about ten feet! The patron saint is St. Pancras, as that of the Pieterskerk is St. Peter. The church began as a chapel, then became an ordinary parish church. In 1366 a "chapter" or college of twenty-four priests was created for this church and a series of building campaigns resulted in the present structure, which remains incomplete.
Pieterskerk
The Pieterskerk was consecrated in 1121 by the Bishop of Utrecht. The earliest church was the chapel of the Counts of Holland, who lived in Leiden before moving to The Hague in the mid-13th century. The castle of the counts was formed by buildings that included the Gravensteen, a castle (just north of the Pieterskerk) that is now part of the Law Faculty of the University of Leiden.
Hartebrug Kerk
The Church of the Immaculate Conception, known from its location near a former bridge as the Hartebrug Kerk, was built in 1835-1837 not far from the medieval Vrouwekerk. The architect was Th. Molkenboer, who provided a classicistic design in a style now associated popularly with the Department of Waterways and therefore called the "Waterstaat" style. That department's draftsmen provided some Catholic church designs in the beginnings of the Catholic emancipation, which were typical of what was a common stylistic idiom found throughout Europe and America. Originally the tower was open, with the cupola supported by pillars. After attempts to buy the Vrouwekerk to restore it for Catholic use failed, a Catholic church similar to the Hartebrug Kerk, the Petruskerk, arose on the Langebrug, a couple of blocks from the medieval Pieterskerk. The Petruskerk burned in 1933, replaced by a fire department.
Marekerk
Arent van 's Gravesande, the town's architect, designed the church in 1639. The growing town needed another church and the Marekerk was the first church to be built in Leiden after the Reformation. It is an example of Dutch classicism. The church is built from bricks and German sandstone is used for the Ionic pillars, the window frames and the portals as well as for decoration. The dome is made of solid oak, perhaps because Van 's Gravesande started his career as a carpenter or maybe because this wooden construction weighed less on the piles.
Sint Lodewijkskerk
The Lodewijks Kerk (Church of St. Louis) was the chapel of a hospice founded in the 15th century, the St. Jacobs Gasthuis. The St. Jacobs Broederschap (Brotherhood of St. James) that operated it was made up of people who had returned from a pilgrimage to Santiago in Spain. Their hospice was not a hospital but probably served as a place to stay on the pilgrimage from northern Europe to Santiago. Leiden, like many other cities, also had a Jerusalem Chapel, maintained by citizens who had returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. There was a Roman Brotherhood as well. The present St. Jacobsgasthuis Chapel was finished in 1538. Changes in devotional habits combined with wars to interfere with pilgrimage routes; interest and practice declined. The St. Jacobsgasthuis was transferred to the administrators of poor relief in 1547. In 1566 the city used the space to store artworks removed from the churches after the iconoclastic rioting. Then the chapel became a guild hall. While the Pilgrims lived in Leiden, cloth was brought here for inspection and quality control and to be sold.
De Waalse kerk
The baroque tower of the St. Catherine's Hospital chapel on the Breestraat was added in 1739 to a chapel that dates originally from as early as 1276. Although it is now the church of the French Reformed (called Walloons or Huguenots), in the 17th century the German Reformed and the English Reformed congregations used this chapel, which also continued to serve the hospital. The English Reformed church was composed of merchants, scholars, and soldiers garrisoned in Leiden as part of the hundreds of English troops fighting with the Dutch against Spain.
Leidse Synagoge
In the seventeenth and eighteenth century many Jews escaped from south - and eastern Europe to the liberal Netherlands. Hundreds of them came to Leiden, especially from Eastern Europe. The leidse synagogue dates from the middle of the eighteenth century.
