The Top 450 is growing: entry number 50 published
We have reached our first milestone: the 50th Top 450 entry has now been published. In the run-up to the university’s 450th anniversary in 2025, we are compiling our Top 450. Who or what is your favourite?
We traditionally celebrate our anniversary every five years (our lustrum) and this upcoming lustrum in 2025 will be extra special. To get things started, on 16 November last year – 450 days before our 450th anniversary – we launched a website with the best things about our university from all those years. We are compiling this Top 450 together: 450 people have a chance to share what they like best about the university, be it from the past or the present.
Fiftieth entry
The 50th entry was sent in by J. Th. Bus, a loyal visitor to the university’s Studium Generale public lectures. What Bus likes most about the university is the The Four Centuries artwork by Ans van Haersolte. These sculptures were made to celebrate the university’s 400th anniversary in 1975 and can be seen at the Hortus botanicus.
From inspiring professors to beloved buildings
Anyone with a connection to the university can send in their favourite. Are you a student or did you study in Leiden? Are you working on a research project, do you love history or do you live in Leiden or The Hague? Then you must have a unique memory of the university that deserves a place in the Top 450. Fifty people have already sent in inventions, professors, traditions and places they consider their favourite.
Giving likes
The entry with the most likes (46) is from history student Jelle de Boer about the unlovely but loved Lipsius. ‘When I first came face to face with the Lipsius building as a first-year, it didn’t immediately feel like a warm welcome. But, since then, this steel building has grown on me to become a place that represents all that is good about Leiden University.’ Alumnus Edwin van Leeuwen describes his memories of lectures in the Old Observatory: ‘They were truly beautiful and inspiring places to have class.’ And Semonti Bhattacharyya, assistant professor, shares with us the discovery of superconductivity. ‘For me, as a researcher in Physics, Leiden is about Heike Kamerlingh Onnes' discovery of superconductivity.’ Have you already liked the best entries?
Share and like
Take a look at our Top 450 website to see who or what from Leiden University’s rich history has inspired our contributors the most. If an entry appeals to you, click on the heart to like it. And perhaps you’ve come up with your own favourite. Everyone is welcome to submit theirs. So share your favourite and you may just make it into the Top 450.
Top 450