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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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Authority that once sat above the city became the city's own sign.

The Lion Steps Down

Authority that once sat above the city became the city's own sign.

Card 19 of 48 · The Moon · Leiden

Why this image

A great stone lion, overgrown with plants, has stepped down from the round wall of a ruined keep onto the grass, where children gather round it; behind it the gate stands open. The burggraaf who sat on the Burcht appointed Leiden's bailiff and aldermen: authority seated literally above the city 2. In 1651 the city bought the Burcht and built a new gate, and in 1662 Rombout Verhulst set the lion above it, a seat of authority become the symbol of Holland's freedom, and above all of Leiden's 1. The same Verhulst had carved the relief above the Waag's gate 3. Not painted, but the same handing over: the Singelpark was thought up by citizens, not by the council 4.

What it draws on · 4

De Burcht

de stad koopt de Burcht

In 1651 Leiden's city government bought the Burcht and had a new gate built; in 1662 the sculptor Rombout Verhulst set the lion above it. What had been a seat of authority became the symbol of Holland's freedom, and above all of Leiden's.

Sources · 3
  • Leiden In Motion: De Diversity Walk — Stichting Güney / Turksarchief.nl
  • Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken — erfgoedleiden.nl
  • Rijksmonumenten.nl — Burcht met gebouwen en poort, Leiden
De Burcht

de burggraaf

The burggraaf who sat on the Burcht held rights on the Rhine, collected part of the taxes and fines, and appointed Leiden's schout and schepenen — its bailiff and its aldermen. It was a stronghold of the kind built to keep a town in check: authority seated literally above the city.

Sources · 2
  • Leiden In Motion: De Diversity Walk — Stichting Güney / Turksarchief.nl
  • Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken — erfgoedleiden.nl
Waag Building

het reliëf van Verhulst

Above the gate sits a relief by the sculptor Rombout Verhulst showing the weighing business itself: the building carries its function on its face. Three years later, in 1662, the same Verhulst set the lion above the gate of the Burcht. The building now houses a café-restaurant.

Sources · 2
  • Nederlandstalige Wikipedia — Waag (Leiden): reliëf van Rombout Verhulst boven de poort; nu restaurant
  • Rijksmonumenten.nl — Burcht met gebouwen en poort, Leiden: leeuw van Rombout Verhulst, 1662
Singelpark

een burgerinitiatief

The park was not thought up by the council but by the city. It grew out of a citizens' initiative, and in 2012 the council and the Friends of the Singelpark agreed with one another: 'Together we are making the longest, finest and most exciting city park in the Netherlands.' Thousands of Leideners worked on it.

Sources · 3
  • Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed — 'Singelpark Leiden: hoe burgers een gemeente succesvol uitdagen'
  • Gemeente Leiden — Singelpark participatieleidraad
  • Wij Maken Nederland — 'In Leiden ontstaat het langste stadspark van Nederland'

Shares its places with · 8

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?