Timeline of Leiden

The following is a timeline of the history of the municipality of Leiden, Netherlands.

Prior to 20th century

 * 11th C. - Burcht van Leiden (an old shell keep).
 * 1323 - School active (approximate date).
 * 1377 - Hooglandse Kerk (church) construction begins.
 * 1390
 * Public clock installed (approximate date).
 * Pieterskerk (church) construction begins.
 * 1420 - Leiden Siege of 1420.
 * 1483 - Printing press in operation.
 * 1520 - Roman ruin Brittenburg discovered near Leiden.
 * 1566 - August: Iconoclasm by Protestants.
 * 1572 - Protestant sermonizing begins at the Vrouwekerk.
 * 1573 - Siege of Leiden by Spanish forces begins.
 * 1574 - 3 October: Siege of Leiden ends.
 * 1575
 * Leiden University founded.
 * Leiden University Library founded.
 * 1577 - Flemish textile manufacturers move to Leiden.
 * 1578 - Gemeenlandshuis van Rijnland (water management building) purchased.
 * 1580s - "Immigration of Flemings, Walloons, and Brabanters" to Leiden.
 * 1580 - Printer Elsevier in business.
 * 1581 - in use.
 * 1587 - Hortus Botanicus Leiden (garden) founded.
 * 1594
 * Leiden anatomical theatre established.
 * Turkish tulips planted in the Hortus Botanicus.
 * 1598 - built.
 * 1600 - built.
 * 1606 - 15 July: Birth of Rembrandt van Rijn.
 * 1612 - Stads Timmerhuis built.
 * 1622 - Population: 44,745.
 * 1630s - Fijnschilders (artists) active.
 * 1633 - Leiden Observatory established.
 * 1639 - Marekerk (a Protestant church) founded.
 * 1640 - Population: 100,000. (estimate)
 * 1641 - Laecken-Halle (cloth hall) built.
 * 1648 - Leiden Guild of Saint Luke established.
 * 1655 - Bibliotheca Thysiana (library) established.
 * 1658 - Weigh House built.
 * 1683 - bookseller in business.
 * 1723 - established.
 * 1745 - Electricity-storing "Leyden jar" invented.
 * 1766 - Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde and Kunst Wordt door Arbeid Verkreegen literary societies formed.
 * 1800 - Population: 30,000. (estimate)
 * 1807 - 12 January: Leiden Gunpowder Disaster.
 * 1818 - National Museum of Antiquities established.
 * 1820 - National Museum of Natural History founded.
 * 1837 - National Museum of Ethnology founded.
 * 1838 - Stedelijk Gymnasium Leiden (school) active.
 * 1842 - Leiden Centraal railway station opened.
 * 1848 - E. J. Brill publisher in business.
 * 1851 - Sijthoff publisher in business.
 * 1860 - Leiden Observatory re-built in the Hortus Botanicus Leiden.
 * 1864 - Training college for Dutch East Indies civil servants established (later the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies).
 * 1873 - Remonstrant seminary active.
 * 1874 - Municipal Museum of Antiquities established.
 * 1893 - (city archive) building constructed.

20th century

 * 1904
 * begins publication.
 * Population: 56,044.
 * 1919 - Population: 61,408.
 * 1923 - (bridge) built.
 * 1925 - St. Joseph, Leiden (Roman Catholic parish church) built.
 * 1928 - University Hospital built.
 * 1931
 * Leidse Hout (public urban park) opened.
 * Museum Boerhaave established.
 * 1940 - Town Hall rebuilt.
 * 1946 - becomes mayor.
 * 1978 - 1978 Tour de France cycling race starts from Leiden.
 * 1980
 * becomes mayor.
 * Population: 103,046 municipality.
 * 1984 - Leiden Bio Science Park development begins.

21st century

 * 2003 - becomes mayor.
 * 2006 - Leiden University Medical Center built.
 * 2012 - built.
 * 2013
 * Welch Allyn branch office in business.
 * Population: 119,800 municipality.
 * 2017 - Asian Library opened by Queen Máxima of the Netherlands.

in English
Published in the 18th-19th c.
 * (+ 1851 ed.)
 * (+ 1851 ed.)
 * (+ 1851 ed.)
 * (+ 1851 ed.)
 * (+ 1851 ed.)
 * (+ 1851 ed.)
 * (+ 1851 ed.)

Published in the 20th-21st c.
 * (+ 1881 ed.)
 * (+ 1881 ed.)

in Dutch

 * 1910-1918
 * (province and city)