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The Hortus botanicus Leiden has received an inheritance of 5 million Euro. This is a gift from the estate of Carla van Steijn, who was a loyal visitor to the Hortus during her lifetime. In accordance with her wishes, the gift will be used for new activities and to optimize accessibility for less-able-bodied visitors.
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Attention! The entrance, café and shop of the Hortus will be redesigned on Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 May. There is only coffee/tea available in the Orangery during these two days. The Hortus store is closed. You pay a voluntary contribution. From Wednesday 8 May we would like to welcome you in the new entrance, shop and café.
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Due to the renewal of an exhibition in the Leiden Observatory, the visitors center is temporary closed from 24 March until 10 April.
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While the main entrance is under construction, we built a pop up café and shop in the monumental Orangery of the Hortus botanicus Leiden. In this historic ambiance visitors can enjoy the Hortus menu. In the Hortus shop you can find botanic presents, plants (directly from the auction), books, cards, jewelry and chocolate.
The Hortus is closed from 24 December through 1 January. 2 January we will be open from Tuesdays-Sundays from 10 am – 4 pm. The new entrance will be open in May 2019.
From Monday December 24 up to and including Tuesday January 1 Hortus botanicus is closed. From Wednesday January 2 onwards, from 10 o'clock in the morning, you're welcome to visit our gardens and glasshouses once again. We wish you a warm holiday season.
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In the course of the next 6 months the entrance area to the Hortus and the Winter Garden will be given a complete makeover; the design is the work of the architect Gerard Smit. The changes are necessary because visitor numbers have increased dramatically. In 2010 there were 100,000 visitors to the Hortus and by 2017 this number had increased to an amazing 178,536. The Hortus has to rebuild if it is to cope with the increasing stream of visitors in the coming years. The new entrance area will be ready for use in May 2019; until that time the cash desk, shop and restaurant will have a temporary home in the splendid Orangery.
The Hortus will continue to be accessible via the current entrance on the Rapenburg for the duration of the project; the Singelpark trail around the Winter Garden will be diverted from Tuesday 13 November onwards.
Our PhD candidate Izai Kukuchi came up with an exceptionally good and creative research question and thus has been nominated for the Janneke Fruin-Helb scholarship 2018 of the Leiden University Fund. The scholarship is ascribed to talented students who apply for a grant of the LUF Internationaal StudieFonds (LISF) for doing research abroad. During a festive gathering on Friday November 2 Izai will hear if he is the lucky one. There are seven nominees. The scholarship holds an amount of € 2.250. Izai, congratulations with your nomination and the Hortus will cheer for you.
Picture: Stefanie uit den Boogaard
The Hortus botanicus Leiden is closed on Wednesday 3 October due to the celebrations of the relief of Leiden in 1574.
On Tuesday September 25, the mayor of Nagasaki - accompanied by an extensive delegation op people - visited Leiden in context of the dear friendship between Nagasaki and Leiden, that exists since 2013. Since the group would pay a visit to the Japan Museum en the National Museum of Ethnology that same afternoon, the Hortus couldn't be left out.
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Within the city centre and the Bio Science Park you will find no less than 13 museums, including th Hortus botanicus The OV-museumlijn 10 bus connects these museums, making it possible to combine visits to multiple museums or pop into town for shopping, a boat tour or a city walk. The OV-museumlijn runs daily between 10.00 and 17.00 hrs, with departures every 20 minutes. You can find the bus timetable at leiden.nl/ museumbus, or plan your trip door-to-door at arriva.nl, the Arriva-app or 9292.nl.
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On Monday 27, Tuesday 28 and Wednesday 29th of August 2018 there will be maintainance work at the walking paths in the Hortus botanicus Leiden. The garden is open for the public but some of the paths will be asphalted. It might hinder your visit. On Thursday 30th of August the work will be done!
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A Chinese delegation of The China Academy of Chinese Medicinal Sciences (CACMS) from Beijing visited the Hortus botanicus Leiden on Monday 16th of July. They were welcomed by Prof. dr. Douwe Breimer and Prof. dr. Paul Keβler. The delegation visited Leiden University for research and educational exchange. The CACMS sponsors the exhibition in de Hortus in 2019: Better with plants with a visitor’s guide and plant labels. After a meeting in the Hortus there was a tour through the medicinal herb garden, a tea presentation by Marisa Bantjes and a demonstration of educational activities by Nienke Beets.
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