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A poem painted in white letters on a brick wall in Leiden

The wall poems of Leiden

Since 1992 poems have appeared on Leiden's facades in Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Latin and Dutch — original scripts, original languages, no translation. It is the most Leiden thing imaginable: literature hiding in plain sight.

Poems you should not miss

  • Marina Tsvetaeva on the Nieuwsteeg — the very first wall poem of the project.
  • Shakespeare's sonnet on the Langebrug.
  • E. E. Cummings near the Pieterskerk.
  • Federico García Lorca on the Rapenburg.
  • The Japanese and Arabic poems around the Hortus and the Sterrenwacht.

Walking the route

Most poems sit within the ring of canals, so a two-hour loop from the station via the Pieterskwartier, the Rapenburg and the Nieuwe Rijn picks up several dozen. The Muurgedichten foundation publishes a free online map with translations and audio, which works well on a phone.

Good to know

  • Free and available every hour of the day.
  • Bring an umbrella rather than a schedule; the poems are outdoors.
  • Paint is restored regularly, so a few are occasionally under cover.