Burcht van Leiden

Burcht van Leiden
Leiden, the Netherlands
Burcht van Leiden (shell keep)
Burcht van Leiden
Coordinates	52°9′32″N 4°29′32″E / 52.15889°N 4.49222°E / 52.15889; 4.49222
Type	Castle
Site information
Open to the public	Yes
Condition	Good
Site history
Built	1100 (1100)

The Burcht van Leiden (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈbɵrxt fɑn ˈlɛidə(n)]; Fort of Leiden) is an old shell keep in Leiden constructed in the 11th century. It is located at the spot where two tributaries of the Rhine come together, the Oude Rijn and the Nieuwe Rijn. The structure is on top of a motte, and is today a public park.

From humble beginnings, the hill was raised during various periods of history up to 9 meters above the surrounding landscape in the 11th century. Ada van Holland used the keep as a residence until her father died in 1203 and she was captured by her uncle. In the same year the previous stone building was rebuilt after an attack on the castle, with tuff stone, and after Ada's removal, in 1204 it was attacked again and rebuilt with brick.

Later in the 13th century the building was considered antiquated, since more and more townspeople and houses were built around the base of the hill, making defenses impossible without destroying most of the city. The old "interior keep" that had been built against the interior walls (a similar ronded keep construction can still be seen in Teylingen) was slowly dismantled and reused for city construction.

As the city of Leiden grew around it in the 13th and 14th centuries, the ruined castle lost its military function. The location became a romantic patriotic symbol after the Siege of Leiden in 1574, as historians recalled the earlier sieges of Leiden: Ada in 1203 and the siege in 1420 (Hook and Cod wars). The stained-glass windows number 25 & 26 in the Janskerk (Gouda) designed by the Leiden artist and councilman Isaac van Swanenburg glorifies this history in 1601 by commemorating the latest siege (glass 25, paid for by the Delft city council and featuring William the Silent as liberator) with a comparison to the "historical" story of the Siege of Samaria (glass 26, paid for by the Leiden city council and featuring the text of the biblical story with God as savior). The city of Samaria is portrayed with a watch tower much like the Leidse Burcht.