Lecture, Studium Generale

Overview of databases, reference works and websites for research in Middle Eastern Studies

Overview of databases, reference works and websites for research in Cultural Anthropology

As a Friend, you contribute to the acquisition, digitisation and restoration of important objects.

Bart Barendregt receives a Vici grant of 1.5 million euros from the NWO for his research project 'One between the Zeros, an Anthropology of Artificial Intelligence in Islam'.

Research on quantum computers and Islamic charities: two Leiden researchers have received a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council.

The Library of Leiden University holds c. 550 manuscripts and an extensive collection of rare printed books in Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, the languages of Ethiopia, South Arabic, Coptic and Armenian, as well as a collection of rare books on the Jewish World.

The Centre for Digital Scholarship offers training, events and presentations for members of Leiden University on the many different aspects of digital scholarship.

Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (1857-1936) is known as an Islamologist, author of the book Mecca, administrator in the Dutch East Indies for the Dutch government and professor in Leiden. Wim van den Doel published a biography of Snouck Hurgronje in 2021. Recently, the translation of the biography in Bahasa…

Overview of the Scaliger, Brill, Elsevier, Van de Sande, Juynboll, Drewes, Isaac Alfred Ailion, Arminius and Lingling Wiyadharma Fellows who have conducted research in the Special Collections of the University Library.

Overview of databases, reference works and websites for research in International Studies

This year the Scaliger Institute received a record number of applications from domestic and foreign submitters for a fellowship to consult and research material in the Special Collections of the University Libraries. With the financial support of a number of companies and private foundations, the UBL…

Overview of databases, reference works and website for research in the History of Science

Overview of databases, reference works and websites for research in Art & Art History

Overview of databases, reference works and websites for research in religious studies.

The climate crisis, the return of TB and the digitisation of cultural heritage. The Netherlands and Indonesia face many of the same challenges. A visit by a delegation from Leiden University to Indonesia at the end of June highlighted the benefits of cooperation.

The submission deadline for applications to Leiden University Libraries (UBL) Scaliger Institute fellowship programmes has been set for 1 April 2022. The Scaliger Institute, the special collections research centre of the UBL, supports scholars in any field of study and from anywhere in the world to…

The submission deadline for applications to Leiden University Libraries (UBL) Scaliger Institute fellowship programmes has been set for 1 April 2024. The Scaliger Institute, the special collections research centre of the UBL, supports scholars in any field of study and from anywhere in the world to…

The submission deadline for applications to Leiden University Libraries (UBL) Scaliger Institute fellowship programmes has been set for 1 April 2023. The Scaliger Institute, the special collections research centre of the UBL, supports scholars in any field of study and from anywhere in the world to…

Library exhibitions, both online and physical, give an idea of the breadth of our collections.

In the 60s and 70s, Black Power groups were also active in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This is what PhD candidate Debby Esmeé de Vlugt has discovered.

Several of the most important manuscript collections in the Leiden University Libraries (UBL) Special Collections, comprising 443 extremely rare and often unique volumes, have been made available in Open Access via Digital Collections. The available manuscript collections include the private collections…

Persian stories with beautiful miniatures, letters on papyrus from Egyptian traders and medicinal manuscripts translated from Greek and edited in Arabic. Studium Generale organizes a lecture series on the world-famous manuscripts from the Middle East collection of Leiden University Libraries (UBL).…

With support of several publishers and private foundations, Leiden University Libraries (UBL) and the Scaliger Institute welcome around 15 to 20 Fellows and guests per year to consult and research materials from our Special Collections. The Scaliger Institute received applications this year from domestic…

Special visit of seven ambassadors of the Arabic-speaking world to the University Library

Earlier this year, the Leiden University Libraries (UBL) Scaliger Institute announced a new fellowship: The Lingling Wiyadharma Fellowship. The fellowship programme is part of the Lingling Wiyadharma Fund.

Leiden University Libraries has been elected to the Executive Committee of the IIIF Consortium. The term of office is two years starting from January 2022.

More than 2000 objects from the Middle Eastern collection at Leiden University Libraries (UBL) have been made available online through Digital Collections. These collections mostly consist of written works in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Syriac, but also contain printed works and the…

UNESCO has recognized an international set of fifteen manuscripts about Ferdinand Magellan's first circumnavigation of the globe and the three Hikayat Aceh manuscripts as World Heritage. The manuscripts are inscribed in the global UNESCO Memory of the World Register. This list contains documentary heritage…

Leiden University Libraries (UBL) has received considerable funding from the National Library of Israel (NLI) and the Friedberg Jewish Manuscript Society (FJMS) for the digitisation of a collection of 166 Hebrew manuscripts. The digitised manuscripts will be made available to the public in the course…

The war against Ukraine did not start in February 2022, but in the spring of 2014 when Russia suddenly annexed Crimea and supported separatist militias in the Donbas. Last year, president Putin called for a restored geopolitical and spiritual trinity of Greater Russians, Belarusians and Lesser Russians…

Historian Peter Frankopan has been appointed Visiting Scaliger professor at Leiden University for 2017. The holder of this chair is affiliated both to the Scaliger Institute of Leiden University Libraries and to the Faculty of Humanities. Former holders of the chair include Anthony Grafton (Princeton…

A flamboyant politician, a divisive figure in the Dutch political landscape and a 'man of the people' who presented himself as an unconventional minister. Exactly twenty years ago today, the Netherlands was shocked to its core by the political murder of Pim Fortuyn. Who was Pim Fortuyn? What were his…

The people behind the Leiden University Libraries aim to maintain the level of their services to clients as much as possible. They are making thankful use of internet, but not everything can be put online.

On Thursday 11 November, Jan Jaap Hooft and Marjon Hooft donated a special collection of glass negatives and photographic prints from the Arabian Peninsula to Leiden University Libraries (UBL). The collection is part of the estate of their grandfather Jan Albert Hooft (1883-1972). Hooft held a position…

A collection of uncatalogued books from the Middle East is now available through the Leiden University Libraries’ (UBL) catalogue. The collection contains over 12,000 books mainly written in Arabic, but also in multiple other languages from the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, including Persian,…

Leiden University Libraries (UBL) recently digitized circa 150 Yemeni manuscripts and has made them freely available for research and education. The manuscripts, dating from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, were digitized as part of the Zaydi Manuscript Tradition project. Yemen has been marked…

As of April 1, 2021, Dr. Saskia Gieling will be the new managing publisher of Leiden University Press (LUP), the academic press of Leiden University. Gieling brings a wealth of experience in scholarly publishing to her new position. She succeeds Anniek Meinders who has led LUP as managing publisher…

Summer School

In less than a week’s time, millions of Turkish people are going to decide who will govern their country for the next five years. These elections promise to be the most closely contested in years, with the opinion polls showing very small differences and everything at stake, including for Europe. Alp…

Private collectors John Steegh and Harrie Teunissen from Dordrecht have donated their entire collection of maps, city plans and atlases to Leiden University Libraries (UBL). In almost 40 years they brought together circa 17,000 map sheets and 2,300 atlases and travel guides. Especially the thematic…

Finding solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the not-inconsiderable task of the new Peace Academy in The Hague. Professor Maurits Berger and twelve students from different conflict zones are starting a creative thinking process that aims to discover the basic conditions for peace in the…

From research on stellar winds to sign language: an impressive seven researchers from Leiden University will receive a prestigious Vici grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

The Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC) is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Thousands of students and researchers from eight partner universities in the Netherlands and Flanders have been able to gain valuable experience in Egypt through the institute. Good reason for a celebrat…

Did you also read a lot this summer? We made some real headway on our bookshelves. After all, nothing beats reading a beautiful or thrilling book outside. In this reading list, you'll find our favourite books for the summer of 2022. If you have any suggestions, let us know via Twitter, Facebook or I…

Overview of databases, reference works and websites for research in Ancient Near East Studies. Last update: October 2020