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 circle the city is still closing, one bridge at a time, by its own hands.

The Ring Still Closing

A circle the city is still closing, one bridge at a time, by its own hands.

Card 48 of 48 · The Moon · Leiden

Why this image

Seen from above, a ring of canal water lined with trees runs round an old town, crossed by small footbridges; on one of them people of all ages carry planks together over their heads. The Singelpark follows the singels that once enclosed Leiden, dating from 1681, and at about 6.5 kilometres it is the longest city park in the Netherlands 2. You can walk the whole rim, but the ring is not yet unbroken: seven footbridges are planned, among them a drawbridge over the Oude Rijn at the Zijlpoort 1. The Zijlpoort is one of the two city gates still standing, of the eight Leiden once had 3.

What it draws on · 3

Singelpark

nog geen gesloten ring

You can walk the whole rim of the singel, but the park does not lie unbroken: cycle paths cross it and so do roads with cars, and in places the path still runs to a dead end. Seven footbridges are planned for that reason, among them one at the Zijlpoort, where a drawbridge is to span the Oude Rijn. The ring is a walking route still closing itself.

Sources · 3
  • Leiden In Motion: De Diversity Walk — Stichting Güney / Turksarchief.nl
  • Nederlandstalige Wikipedia — Singelpark: zeven voetgangersbruggen, ophaalbrug bij de Zijlpoort
  • Gemeente Leiden — projecten: Singelpark
Singelpark

het langste stadspark

At about 6.5 kilometres the Singelpark is the longest city park in the Netherlands. It follows the water of the singels that once enclosed Leiden — those date from 1681, the year the bulwarks and defences were finished, and have stayed where they were ever since. Where the defence once lay, a park now runs.

Sources · 3
  • Nederlandstalige Wikipedia — Singelpark
  • Gemeente Leiden — projecten: Singelpark
  • Singelpark — singelpark.nl
Morspoort

twee van de acht

Leiden originally had eight city gates. Two of them still stand: the Morspoort and the Zijlpoort. The other six are gone.

Sources · 2
  • Nederlandstalige Wikipedia — Morspoort: 'als enige overgebleven van de oorspronkelijk acht stadspoorten'
  • Zijlpoort (Leiden) — Engelstalige Wikipedia

Shares its places with · 6

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?