|
Sights Saint Peters church  The Saint Peters church is Leiden's oldest church. A Romanesque church was consecrated on this spot as early as 1121. A larger church was built in the 14th century. The choir was consecrated in 1339 and in 1412 a new choir was constructed behind the existing one. The church has been enlarged and extended many times in the following centuries, and one addition was a tower, 330 feet high, which was used by fishermen on the North Sea as a beacon, who dubbed it the "King of the sea". But the tower unfortunately collapsed in 1512, on the night of 4 on 5 august, and it has never been rebuilt. This late Gothic cruciform basilica contains the graves of, among others, the painter Jan Steen, and the leader of the Pilgrims John Robinson. |