On 8 February 2024 Leiden University celebrated its 449th anniversary.

University ceremony

University ceremony

447th Dies Natalis

Leiden University celebrated its 445th foundation day on 7 February 2020.

On 8 February 2023 Leiden Unversity celebrates its 448th foundation day.

Leiden University celebrated its 442nd foundation day on 8 February 2017.

On 8 February 2022 Leiden University celebrated its 447th anniversary.

Leiden University celebrated its 443th foundation day on 8 February 2018.

On 8 February 2021 Leiden University celebrated its 446th anniversary.

Leiden University celebrated its 444th foundation day on 8 February 2019.

Pieterskerk and Leiden University are closely connected. The University was founded in Pieterskerk and to this day we celebrate that at the University’s annual Dies Natalis. Much has to be done to get the church ready for this special day. A photo series behind the scenes.

On the 442nd anniversary of the foundation of Leiden University, and at the start of the Leiden Asia Year, lawyer Jan Michiel Otto, an expert in the field of law in developing countries, delivered the first Dies lecture. He compared demagogues in Asia who call upon Muslims to turn against their governments…

Leiden University College The Hague turns 7 today (29 September 2017). Lieke Schreel, educational director of LUC has been with the college from the start. She shares her thoughts on another year and birthday of the College.

On September 29th LUC celebrated its 6th birthday. Lieke Schreel, the Educational Director of LUC has been involved with the programme from the start. She reflects on the growth and the development of LUC in those six years.

On February 8 the 443rd dies natalis will take place in the Pieterskerk in Leiden.

On 8 February, GTGC's Chair prof.dr. Jan Aart Scholte, gave a speech during the high-level dinner of the university's 449th Dies Natalis. The speech was themed around 'including the other' in research and focussed on the value of inviting and engaging with perspectives different than your own.

‘Collaboration is increasingly important,’ Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker said at the 445th Dies Natalis of Leiden University on 7 February. But, as he heard from a number of Leiden researchers, this is contingent upon a firm disciplinary basis. A novelty of this year’s celebration was a joint dies…

Universities cannot survive in this highly competitive world without collaboration. And the ultimate aim is to make the world a safer and more sustainable place. This was Rector Carel Stolker’s message during the 441st Dies Natalis.

How has evolution shaped our curiosity? And how does that curiosity ensure that we now have the technological ability to discover whether we are alone in the universe? This was all covered during the celebration of Leiden University’s 449th Dies Natalis.

The importance of science communication and cross-boundary collaboration, and the ‘mantra’ of diminishing social cohesion in society: these all came up at Leiden University’s 448th Dies Natalis. A panel discussion including Leiden’s mayor Lenferink, music and two honorary doctorates completed the special…

‘Collaboration is increasingly important,’ Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker said at the 445th Dies Natalis of Leiden University on 7 February. But, as he heard from a number of Leiden researchers, this is contingent upon a firm disciplinary basis. A novelty of this year’s celebration was a joint dies…

Historian Frank Dikötter will receive an honorary doctorate from Leiden University for his work on the history of the Chinese Republican period and the People's Republic of China under Mao. He will be awarded the honorary degree during the university's Dies Natalis celebrations on 8 February 2017.

No procession of professors, just a handful of people in the church and snowdrifts outside Leiden’s Pieterskerk: 8 February 2021 was no ordinary Dies Natalis. Carel Stolker transferred the rectorate to Hester Bijl, and Annetje Ottow became the new President of the Executive Board. With an honorary doctorate…

Every year around 8 February, Leiden University, the oldest university in the Netherlands, is celebrating its birthday. Why does the King still receive a telegram on the day of the Dies Natalis? 4 questions on the origins of Leiden University and its traditions for celebrating its foundation day.

This critical edition covers the first two parts of De secundis intentionibus by Hervaeus Natalis (14th century).

On 8 February 2016, Dr Jennifer Tour Chayes, Director of Microsoft Research in Boston and New York, will be presented with a Leiden honorary doctorate by Frank den Hollander, Professor of Probability Theory and Statistical Physics.

From ransomware to Citrix traffic jams: over the past few months Dutch organisations were regularly brought to a standstill by serious cyber attacks. We can only face these threats by standing as one, and universities and government should take the lead. These are the words of Leiden professors Bibi…

University ceremony

Alumni event

Portraits of six Leiden professors for whom 8 February 2016 was the first time that they took part in the procession of Leiden professors at the Dies Natalis.

The celebration of Leiden's Dies Natalis on Monday 9 February in the Pieterskerk was extra special this year and was attended by many prominent guests. This was the kick-off of the special 88th Lustrum (five-year) celebrations in 2015.

Alumni event

At the Dies Natalis Willem Otterspeer, Professor Emeritus of University History, presented the fourth and final volume of Groepsportret met Dame, his series on the history of Leiden University. De 'Strategie van de Aanpassing' covers the period 1876-1975. Otterspeer talked about his book in a podcast…

Maarten Feteris, the former president of the Court of Appeal and an alumnus of Leiden University, composed the piece ‘Intermezzo’ to mark the transfer of the rectorate during the Dies Natalis on 8 February 2021.

Edegar da Conceição Savio defended his thesis on 28 January 2016

American anthropologist Rosemary Joyce will be awarded an honorary doctorate from Leiden University on its Dies Natalis on 8 February. Joyce has delivered important new insights into the ancient Mayan cultures of Central America.

On the university’s birthday, professors teach a class of 10 and 11-year-olds during Meet the Professor. The professors were bombarded with questions.

‘Praesidium Libertatis is a daily responsibility.’ These were the words of Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker on 8 February during the 443rd Dies Natalis of Leiden University. The University needs to pay continuous attention to open debate if it wants to remain a bastion of freedom.