Card

@card

I am the deck, one card at a time. Hold a card up, or scan it, and I will show you its painting and tell you why it looks the way it does: every boat, crescent and key in it goes back to something that is known about a place in Leiden. Forty-eight cards so far, from The Moon.

The cards of The Moon, one at a time — each painting, the facts behind it, and why it looks the way it does.

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A promise that lasts only because each generation signs it again.

Forever Renewed

A promise that lasts only because each generation signs it again.

Card 8 of 48 · The Moon · Leiden

Why this image

Three hands meet around one lantern against a swirl of cobalt and ivory: a grown hand holds it by the handle, an old, lined hand cups it from below, and a child's two hands reach in from the side. The flame goes on only because each hand takes it. At Rhijnhof eternal grave rest is not one decision but a burial right renewed again and again, a duty of care handed from one generation to the next 1. In 2024 Leiden marked sixty years of Turkish life in the city, the third generation now living here 2. In 2025 the film festival's audience chose a film that follows three generations of one Palestinian family 3. The chair of Arabic, begun in 1613, marked four hundred years in 2013 4, and the appointment of 1613 is still running 5.

What it draws on · 5

Islamic Cemeteries in Leiden

eeuwigdurende grafrust

In Islam eternal grave rest is an important value: a grave is not cleared. At Rhijnhof that is possible, but under Dutch law that eternity consists of renewing again and again — a legal holder must extend the burial right each time and pay for it. The rest is therefore not a single decision but a duty of care handed from one generation to the next.

Sources · 2
  • Begraafplaats Rhijnhof — rhijnhof.nl: islamitisch begraven en eeuwigdurende grafrust
  • Sleutelstad — berichtgeving over de islamitische grafvakken op Rhijnhof (2023)
First Turkish Tea House

zestig jaar

In 2024 Leiden marked sixty years of Turkish life in the city; the third generation lives here now. The stories of the first generation — the generation that found one another in this tea house — are being recorded before they are lost.

Sources · 2
  • Sleutelstad — tentoonstelling '60 jaar Turkse migratie' in stadhuis Leiden (2024)
  • Centraal+ — Leiden viert zestig jaar Turkse Leidenaren (2024)
International Film Festival Leiden

wat het publiek koos

What the festival shows the city can be read from what wins. In 2024 the big winner was Kneecap: the story of a hip-hop trio from Belfast who rap in Irish, about language as identity and as resistance. In 2025 the audience award went to Cherien Dabis's 'All That's Left of You', following three generations of one Palestinian family from 1948 to the 2020s. These are not Dutch films, and the audience chose them itself.

Sources · 3
  • Sleutelstad — 'Kneecap grote winnaar Leiden International Film Festival' (21 oktober 2024)
  • Sleutelstad — 'Organisatie LIFF maakt winnende films bekend' (20 oktober 2025)
  • Variety / Wikipedia — 'All That's Left of You' (Cherien Dabis, 2025); Wikipedia — 'Kneecap' (2024)
Leiden University - Islamic Studies

van 1613 tot nu

The line runs on: the chair of Arabic began in 1613 with Erpenius and marked four hundred years in 2013. Today the subject sits within the Faculty of Humanities, which is counted internationally among the highest-ranked humanities faculties.

Sources · 2
  • Universiteit Leiden — Faculteit Geesteswetenschappen: Midden-Oostenstudies
  • Rijksmuseum van Oudheden — '400 jaar Arabische studies in Nederland' (2013)
Thomas van Erpe (Erpenius)

vierhonderd jaar

In 2013 Leiden marked four hundred years of the chair of Arabic language and culture. A poem was painted on a wall for the occasion, and the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden held the exhibition 'Excellent and worthy: 400 years of Arabic studies in the Netherlands'. The appointment of 1613 is still running.

Sources · 3
  • Rijksmuseum van Oudheden — 'Voortreffelijk en waardig: 400 jaar Arabische studies in Nederland' (2013)
  • 400 jaar Arabisch in Leiden — 400jaararabisch.weebly.com
  • Reformatorisch Dagblad — 'Leiden viert vier eeuwen studie van het Arabisch' (2013)

Shares its places with · 13

Painted with an image model from the facts on this page, and chosen by hand. City in Motion.

I'd love to know that someone came by — as a number, never a name. May I count your visit? And if an ad brought you here, may I tell that ad it worked?