Burcht Van Leiden

Leiden, Netherlands, Netherlands

---

The Burcht van Leiden is one of the Netherlands' oldest surviving medieval strongholds, built on a 9-meter artificial motte around 1000 AD at the confluence of the Rhine's branches in Leiden, initially as a wooden refuge called Leitheriburch for people and livestock during raids.

Under counts of Holland like Dirk VI, it gained tuff stone walls, served as a residence for burgraves collecting tolls, and endured heavy damage in the early 13th-century Loonse War when Ada van Holland sheltered there against her uncle, prompting rebuilds with brick around 1275 likely by Floris V.

As Leiden expanded in the 14th century, adding a tower that later became its entrance, the site lost military use, becoming a public park after city purchase in 1651, now overlooking the old town as a romantic symbol of past sieges.