On Thursday the 15th of March, an exhibition displaying funerary masterpieces of Deir el-bersha was opened at the Egyptian museum on the occasion of 120 years of archaeological research at the site. The exhibit runs until 15 April.

This fall, LUCIS will have the pleasure of welcoming Professor Hugh Kennedy from SOAS University of London to Leiden. He is the fourth Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain Cultural Foundation Visiting Professor in Arabic Culture at Leiden University.

What are the origins of the Islamic Empire? And what was daily life like there? Two new Ted Ed animations answer these questions in simple language. Arabists Petra Sijpesteijn and Birte Kristiansen explain what the process of developing the videos was like.

Çağlar Köseoğlu, MA student Literary Studies, has received the Fulbright Graduate Student Grant intended for students who want to study for a master’s degree or a PhD in the United States. He will do a one-year MA called Aesthetics and Politics at the California Institute of the Arts.

On Sunday, November 9 2025, Prof. dr. Sarah Cramsey presented a film at the “Eastern Neighbors” Film Festival in The Hague.

City dwellers in the Middle Ages were probably no worse off than people living in villages. Both groups had very different health risks, is Rachel Schats' conclusion from her research on bone material. PhD defence 3 November.

Conference, Meet us in your country

Conference, Meet us in your country

Learn the newest insights from established scholars.

How can the importance of the image in late medieval spirituality be understood in the context of the love mysticism inspired by the imagery of the Song of Songs?

From October 17 to October 20, the international conference "Patristic Sermons in the Middle Ages: Collections, Mediators and the Practice of Compiling" will take place at the Dutch Royal Institute in Rome. Research Master students can obtain 2 ECTS by participating in this conference an an additional…

On January 17th, Frits Scholten (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam) will give a lecture titled: "Private Devotion & Immersive Play - The Use of 'Spiritual Toys' in the Late Middle Ages." The lecture is part of a Lorentz Center workshop on 'Religious Imagination in the Late Medieval Low Countries' and can also be…

Conference, Meet us in your country

Learn the newest insights from established researchers.

This series of seminars convenes researchers based in North America and Europe in order to inspire and further establish reflections about race, race-thinking, and racialization among scholars of late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The first seminar will be held on Monday, October 19, at 12:00 EDT by…

Russia’s premeditated attack on Ukraine in February 2022 changed not only the security landscape of Europe. It also altered – at least for now – the structures of leadership and influence within the West.

Leiden University offers its students a wide range of bachelor's, master's and minors that explore sustainability or climate. Here, you find an overview of those programmes in the academic year 2020-2021.

This research project analyses the use of different, often competing, stereotypical images of Rome in Humanist Latin Poetry, by considering it as strategic appropriation of the classical heritage.

In the eighties the Umhlatuzana rock shelter in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, was excavated. Results from this excavation led to an understanding when the Later Stone Age started in this area. This archaeological period is often associated with the structural presence of modern human behavior. Now a…

After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, the Islamic Empire expanded at a tremendous pace. Within a hundred years, it stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian subcontinent. How did such a rapidly conquered territory become one empire? Professor Petra Sijpesteijn has been awarded a Vici grant…

The bottom-up development of post-Roman northwestern Europe

At Leiden University you can study Islam and Muslim societies within two Dutch-language BA and various MA programmes and specializations.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Augustan Rome: Greek culture in the Roman world.

Political scientist Kevin Köhler (Leiden University) has been awarded a Consolidator Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). This prestigious grant enables him to set up a research group in the coming five years. Köhler and his team will examine how elite conflict affects processes of regime change…

To reach a larger audience beyond the academy, a number of activities in the cultural realm have been programmed over the years.

This Master's programme prepares you to become an expert in your chosen language and culture. You’ll be equipped with transferable skills such as analysis, communication, research, intercultural competence, and creative thinking.

Why do some civil wars experience quagmire, a situation in which belligerents are trapped in fighting? To explain this puzzle, Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl (Leiden University Institute of Political Science) analyses the overlapping strategic interactions between foreign powers and the warring parties. Studying…

To be eligible for Literature in Society: Europe and Beyond at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

Learn the newest insights from established researchers.

Got an hour to spare over the long weekend? Then listen to an episode of the new podcasts that have seen the light of day at the faculty in recent months.

Lecture, Lunch Time Talk

Researchers within the cluster are committed to the close and expert analysis of the materiality and content of the arts, literature and media they study. Different types of media bring various aspects of this core interest to the fore.

The specialisation in Modern Languages explores the structure, acquisition, history and use of five languages.

During the master’s programme in Modern Dutch Literature at Leiden University you will learn to scientifically analyse literary texts, as well as other Dutch cultural texts, such as those found in hiphop songs and diaries.

Leiden University is building a new Middle Eastern Library. This new library will lie at the heart of Cluster Zuid on the new Humanities Campus and will endeavour to provide a sense of community, a pleasant study and working environment and modern facilities for researchers and students in Middle Eastern…

The European Research Council had awarded a Starting Independent Researcher Grant to Bleda Düring for the project Consolidating Empire.Reconstructing Hegemonic Practices of the Middle Assyrian Empire at the Late Bronze Age Fortified Estate of Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria, ca. 1230 – 1180 BC.

Do you want to discover a language and culture that is completely different from the Netherlands?

Do you want to discover a language and culture that is completely different from the Netherlands?

Do you want to discover a language and culture that is completely different from the Netherlands?