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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Leaving is where the counting begins.

The Departure

Leaving is where the counting begins.

Card 5 of 48 · The Moon · Leiden

Why this image

Footprints come up from the sea, where a crescent moon sits on the horizon, and cross the pale sand to an open book in the foreground; on its page a round grid is drawn inside a border of leaves. Al-hijra means the departure: Muhammad's journey from Mecca to Medina, the moment at which the Islamic calendar begins, and the name of a Leiden community that had itself moved 1. Leaving began other counts too: in 1620 fewer than half of the Pilgrims sailed, 41 of the 102 aboard the Mayflower 2, and on 19 August 1964 the Netherlands signed a recruitment agreement with Turkey; between 1960 and 1973 some 65,000 Turkish migrants came 3.

What it draws on · 3

Former Islamic Center Leiden (ICL), Now Al Hijra

de naam Al Hijra

Al-hijra means the departure: Muhammad's journey from Mecca to Medina, the moment at which the Islamic calendar begins. A community that has itself moved — from one country to another, and later from one street to another — therefore carries a name meaning exactly that.

Sources · 2
  • Islamitische kalender — Nederlandstalige Wikipedia: hidjra, begin van de jaartelling, 622
  • Islamitisch Centrum Al Hijra Leiden — alhijra.nl
Leiden American Pilgrim Museum

wie er vertrok en wie bleef

Leiden was not a stopover but their home for nearly twelve years. In 1620 fewer than half the community left: they sailed from Delfshaven on the Speedwell to Southampton and there transferred to the Mayflower. Of the 102 people aboard the Mayflower, 41 were Pilgrims. The rest followed later or never — on the Fortune (1621), the Anne and the Little James (1623), and a second Mayflower (1629).

Sources · 2
  • Nederlandstalige Wikipedia — Pilgrim Fathers: Speedwell, Mayflower, Fortune, Anne, Little James
  • Pieterskerk Leiden — 'Pilgrims: tentoonstelling & historie'
First Turkish Tea House

gastarbeiders

On 19 August 1964 the Netherlands signed a recruitment agreement with Turkey; between 1960 and 1973 some 65,000 Turkish migrants came. Those who came to Leiden worked at the Verto rope factory in Leiderdorp, or at the Grofsmederij, the heavy forge that stood where the Ankerpark lies today.

Sources · 2
  • Canon Sociaal Werk — 1964 Wervingsverdrag Nederland-Turkije
  • Sleutelstad / Centraal+ — zestig jaar Turkse Leidenaren (2024)

Shares its places with · 11

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?