A

cultural

biography of

Egypt:

objects, style and agency

Expert meeting,
Leiden,
January 21-22 2016

Organized by:
Caroline van Eck & Miguel John Versluys
Contributions by:
Jan Assmann; Laurent Bricault; Brian Curran; Florian Ebeling; David Fontijn; Pascal Griener; Ann C. Gunter;
Anne Haslund Hansen; Jean-Marcel Humbert; Cecilia Hurley; Dimitri Laboury; Peter Mason;
Odile Nouvel-Kammerer; Guy Stroumsa and Molly Swetnam-Burland.

A CULTURAL BIOGRAPHY OF EGYPT:

OBJECTS, STYLE AND AGENCY
Expert meeting, Leiden, January 21-22 2016
Organized by Caroline van Eck & Miguel John Versluys

This symposium aims to provide a long term and interdisciplinary perspective on Egypt taking
theories on material agency as its main point of departure. The central question this expert
meeting aims to address is why, from around 2500 BC onwards, the concept of Egypt and things
Egyptian are to be found everywhere in world history and how we can account for their enduring
agency over time. We believe Egypt to be a cultural concept but also to consist of objects that have
oriented and shaped many processes and events throughout history. It could even be argued that,
like China, Egypt is one of the strongest and most enduring of these concepts and forms around.
Still, Egypts agency is most often described as reception alone and then explained in terms of
Egyptomania. This symposium aims to formulate a rather different paradigm and thereby focuses
on objects, style and agency.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Programme

Summaries

Practical information

13

Map

17

INTRODUCTION
This symposium aims to provide a long term and interdisciplinary perspective on Egypt
taking theories on material agency as its main point of departure. The central question this
conference aims to address is why, from around 2500 BC onwards, the concept of Egypt
and things Egyptian are to be found everywhere in world history and how we can account
for their enduring agency over time.
We believe Egypt to be a cultural concept but also to consist of objects that have oriented
and shaped many processes and events throughout history. It could even be argued that,
like China, Egypt is one of the strongest and most enduring of these concepts and forms
around. Still, Egypts agency is most often described as reception alone and then explained
in terms of Egyptomania. This symposium aims to formulate a rather different paradigm
and thereby focuses on objects, style and agency.
Contributions will range from the Bronze Age up to the Modern period. A lot of work has
already been done on the cultural contexts of isolated responses to Egypt. However, all
kinds of boundaries between disciplinary specialisations (history, philosophy, religious
studies, art-history, archaeology, etc.) on the one hand and period specialisations
(prehistory, Classical studies, Egyptology, Renaissance studies, Modern history, etc.) on the
other stand in the way of a clear view on the longue-dure, cultural-historical
development of Egypt in a Warburgian sense of the word.
Jan Assmann and Florian Ebeling are working on a project that aims to describe and
understand the mnemohistory of Egypt in its entire appearance. Their work will form our
point of departure, helping us to move beyond Egyptomania and showing that Egypt is
much more than a mere screen of projection for (Western) imagination. What our meeting
and its publication will add to their ongoing project is its focus on objects and their
material agency.
In many historical contexts Egyptian civilisation was considered to be an important
testator. But unlike Classical Antiquity which has always been seen as place of origin and
therefore being an integral part of the (Western) world, Egypt not only was the deeper past
but also, simultaneously, the Other. Egypt thus often was strange and familiar in one and
we believe that this liminal position is important for our understanding of the agency of
Egypt. Moreover, the different forms in which Egypt was reclaimed and manifested itself
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influenced each other and changed over the course of time. Focussing on objects, style and
agency to study these Wanderstrassen der Kultur (Warburg) stresses that cultural
responses to Egypt started much earlier than with Herodotos and include much more than
appropriations of social, philosophical and religious aspects alone. Cultural responses to
Egypt cannot be understood without taking into account the tangible form of Egyptian
objects, their style and materiality. In the Bronze Age Egyptian stylistic features are an
important constituent of an international koine. In the Iron Age Aegyptiaca are everywhere
in the Mediterranean and Near East as its leading global commodity, only to be challenged
by Greek forms some centuries later. Nowadays the question if something looks Egyptian
in terms of stylistic or material characteristics, for most people seems to be at the heart of a
definition if something really is Egyptian.
In this expert meeting we aim to provide, study and debate, for the very first time, a
vertical line of transmission of Egypt, from the perspective of material agency. Outlining
this vertical line of transmission makes clear that Egypt has always played an important
role in processes of cultural innovation, be it as cultural foundation or as quintessential
Other. It redirects our attention from the many historical contexts that appropriate Egypt
for one reason of another towards the cultural and material forms that constitute Egypt;
and enables us to study these two perspectives in relation to each other beyond simple
reception or Egyptomania. Focussing on human-thing entanglement will highlight the
important role objects, style and their agency play in this process.
Our hypothesis is that the reasons for vertical transmission are located primarily in the
material agency of Egyptian objects in their various historical situatedness. This forces us
to address difficult questions about the characteristics of the cultural and material forms
that constituted Egypt over time and hence Egypts fitness for survival. Egypt is not an
isolated case. We believe that the results of this meeting can serve as a model to study the
longue-dure material agency of, for instance, the Greek, the Chinese or the Celtic.
The symposium is divided in two parts. Part 1 will deal with the mnemohistory of Egypt in
order to try to move beyond Egyptomania. Part 2 (Objects, style and agency) will, in nine
lectures, provide us with the longue-dure from a material agency perspective. Each
speaker has been asked to put one single object central to his or her analysis and to
subsequently analyse how this Egyptian looking object influenced and shaped its historical
context. Nine objects, therefore, will constitute our colonne vertbrale and form the basis
for our discussions.

PROGRAMME
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 20
18.00 onwards: Welcome in Wijnbar & Restaurant Wielinga, Nieuwe Rijn 28.
19.00 Dinner

THURSDAY JANUARY 21 (Venue: Gravensteen, Pieterskerkhof 6)

09.30-10.00 Introduction by the organisers (Miguel John Versluys and Caroline Van Eck)
10.00-10.45: Introduction to and brief tour through the (Egyptian) collections of the National
Museum of Antiquities (Pieter ter Keurs and Lara Weiss)
10.45-11.00 Short walk to the National Museum of Ethnology
11.00-12.00 Introduction to and brief tour through the collections of the National Museum of
Ethnology (Pieter ter Keurs)
12.00-13.30 Lunch
Part 1: Beyond Egyptomania
13.30-14.15 The mnemohistory of Egypt: approaches in understanding Egypt in intellectual history
(Florian Ebeling)
14.15-15.00 The fascination for Egypt during the Eighteenth Century History of a configuration
(Pascal Griener)
15.00-15.30 Response by Guy Stroumsa and discussion
15.30-16.00 Tea & coffee
Part 2: Objects, style and agency
(30 minutes for the individual lectures + 15 minutes for discussion)
16.00-16.45 Egyptian and Egyptianizing: Style and agency in the Iron Age Mediterranean
(Ann C. Gunter)
16.45-17.30 Lgypte des uns nest pas toujours lgypte des autres : propos dune drachme de
Myndos (Laurent Bricault)
18.00 onwards: Drinks and dinner in Restaurant La Diva, Noordeinde 23
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 FRIDAY JANUARY 22
(Venue: National Museum of Antiquities, Rapenburg 28, Trajanuszaal)
09.30-10.15 Aegyptiaca Romana: Appreciation, imitation, and transformation (Molly SwetnamBurland)
10.15-11.00 Lost in translation? On aegyptiaca in the Middle Ages (Dimitri Laboury & Marie
Lekane)
11.00-11.30 Tea & coffee
11.30-12.15 The most famous lions in Rome. The cultural biography of the lions of Nectanebo I (r.
380-362 BCE) in the Museo Gregoriano Egizio at the Vatican (Brian Curran)
12.15-13.00 Periculosae plenum opus aleae: the Mensa Isiaca, Lorenzo Pignoria and the perils of
cultural translation (Peter Mason)

13.00-14.15 Lunch

14.15-15.00 Ordering the ancient world Egypt in Piranesis Cammini, 1769 (Anne Haslund
Hansen)
15.00-15.45 Le surtout du Service gyptien offert par Napolon au tsar Alexandre Ier (1804-1808)
(Odile Nouvel-Kammerer)
15.45-16.30 Staging Egypt : the museography of the Egyptian collections in the Louvre during the
19th century (Cecilia Hurley)
16.30-17.00 Tea & coffee
17.00-17.30 Response by David Fontijn and discussion
17.30-18.00 Response by Jean-Marcel Humbert and discussion
18.15 onwards: Drinks and dinner in Restaurant La Diva, Noordeinde 23

SUMMARIES
The mnemohistory of Egypt: approaches in understanding Egypt in intellectual history
Florian Ebeling
The research into the different aspects of the mnemohistory of ancient Egypt has a long
tradition on the other hand it only dates back to the 1960th in regard to understand it as a
topic on its own. Iversen, Baltruaitis and Morenz have opened the research field with
different approaches. All these attempts are bearing problems in order to focus on the concept
on Egypt this meeting is focussing on.
After the overview of the research history I try to understand the actual research field in
discussing the different terms and their methodological implications like reception, afterlife,
mnemohistory, aegyptomania etc.. Nevertheless the established research practice seem to
follow the same guideline: the detailed analysis of the single case of reception/afterlife as part
of the longue dure or history of ideas/ forms/ material. While the first is founded in the
individual disciplinary tradition of the different approaches the latter seems to be a severe
challenge for the research practice. Is it possible to understand the different traces in
intellectual history and material culture as interwoven or intermingled to the concept or
agency of Egypt?
I want to make aware of the postulates in my own experience in intellectual history (esp.
hermeticism, freemasonry in 18th century, mnemohistory and hermeneutics) in order to
establish a constructive discussion about the long term and interdisciplinary perspective on
Egypt.

The fascination for Egypt during the Eighteenth Century History of a configuration
Pascal Griener
The obvious fascination for Egyptian patterns and forms in eighteenth-century art and art
history have been repeatedly interpreted as the symptom of a manic attraction for Egyptian
culture - an Egyptomania (cat Louvre exh. 1994 ; Curl 1982/94). Otherwise, it has been seen
proceeding from a philosophy of art, which was militating for the recognition of Ancient
Egyptian art and culture as a value in its own right. (Aegyptian-ism). Both these
interpretations might fail to pay justice to the complexity of such a phenomenon. I should like
to sketch out some dominant features of the subtle configuration which may explain why
Egyptian art had the power to haunt the Enlightenment with great intensity. My paper will
also try to propose new ways of grasping such an agency and its major articulations.

Egyptian and Egyptianizing: Style and agency in the Iron Age Mediterranean
Ann C. Gunter
My point of departure is the celebrated gold bowl recovered in 1989 from the Queens Tombs
at Nimrud in northern Mesopotamia, inscribed for Yaba, consort of King Tiglath-pileser III (ca.
744-727 BCE). The bowl bears elaborate repouss decoration consisting of boating scenes set
in a papyrus thicket, surrounding an interior circle of swimming animals, fish, and a nude
female. Experts immediately recognized striking similarities between the Yaba bowl and the
decoration on a silver bowl now in Berlin, reportedly from a cemetery on Cyprus. Additional
parallels were noted with other silver bowls from elite burial contexts in the central and
eastern Mediterranean, and with strongly Egyptianizing imagery among the ivories found at
Nimrud that are usually considered the products of Phoenician workshops.
The Yaba bowl and its connections with objects from multiple locations in the eastern
Mediterranean sphere raise multiple questions central to this conference. Emphasizing
historiographic issues, I explore the cultural/artistic labels of Egyptian and Egyptianizing;
the notion of a koine style in the Late Bronze and early Iron Age Mediterranean; the agency of
artisans and objects; and the material evidence for cultural contacts between Egypt and the
Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Lgypte des uns nest pas toujours lgypte des autres : propos dune drachme de Myndos
Laurent Bricault
My point of departure for this lecture is a drachme from the city of Myndos in Asia Minor. This
coin is part of a series that can be dated to the first part of the 2nd century BC. The drachme of
Myndos very much resembles other, contemporary Hellenistic coinage in many respects. Most
of the other cities, however, show Zeus on the obverse, while Myndos decided to display
Sarapis as part of its monetary self-fashioning. Distinctly Egyptian elements, like the Atef
crown Osiris, now come into play. Egyptian elements like the Atef crown or, to give another
example used, the basileion of Isis certainly have a (political) relation to the influence of the
Ptolemies and their Egypto-Mediterranean Empire but there is more at stake. Because why
would the Ptolemies use or relate themselves to Egyptian symbols and motives in order to
present themselves on the Mediterranean stage?
Through the Myndos drachme, therefore, I will be able to explore Egypts agency in the
Hellenistic period more in general. The Hellenistic period is also called the Hellenistic period
because things Greek rise to prominence above all other cultural forms, like Egyptian. But
still Egypts agency remains prominent. The ultimate test case for such an exploration is the
invention of the god Sarapis and the transformation of the Egyptian Isis to the Hellenistic
Isis. In both cases their Egyptian character was, so it seems, hidden or at least fundamentally
redefined in contemporary, Hellenistic terms. Still, in both cases it seems to have been the
Egyptian character of the deities, or, in other words, Egypts agency, that accounts for their
(later) success.
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Aegyptiaca Romana: Appreciation, imitation, and transformation

Molly Swetnam-Burland
In 1903, the remains of a villa believed to have belonged to Augustus grandson were discovered
near Boscotrecase. Several rooms were sumptuously decorated with so-called Third-Style murals
that included myth paintings, birds-eye landscapes, and representations of attenuated
architectural forms. Particularly notable were scenes executed in combined perspective with a
vibrant palette that depicted Egyptian deities, animals, and fanciful hybrid creatures. I will use
these frescos as the focal point of my discussion of how Roman period artworks reflecting interest
in Egypt did far more than imitate Egyptian style, but transformed it to convey new meaning.
Roman fascination with Egypt is well known, attested by literary sources characterizing the
culture of Egypt as upside-down, and by artworks across all media that depict the place and its
people. Objects like the Boscotrecase frescos are doubly interesting because they adopt a fictive
Egyptian style. These striking frescos have attracted the attention of museum-goers and scholars
alike, who often focus on them as the most meaningful elements of the rooms dcor, arguing that
they celebrate Augustus victories over Cleopatra.
Other contemporary materials associated with elite contexts, such as ornate obsidian cups
found in a villa at Stabiae and early imperial cameo-glass vessels, appear to affirm that interest in
the arts of Egypt was widespread and linked to conquest. I will suggest, in contrast, that we learn
more about these objects and artifacts by focusing on their material and manner of production. All
of these examples were produced in Italy or for the Roman market. The wall-paintings were
executed on site by itinerant regional workshops of artists; cameo glass was produced by
specialized ateliers working near Rome and Campania; the form of the obsidian cups suggests that
they were made specially for Roman consumption. Through imitating specific motifs and styles,
these works transform their subject matter. Drawing on Egyptian religious and funerary
iconography, Italian artists created wares that were intended to amuse, delight, and display
wealth. The artists did not always get the Egyptian iconography right, but in adapting it to new
forms and materials, they displayed their virtuosity. The subject matter showed their patrons to be
erudite, cosmopolitan, and aware of recent trends. The appeal of Egyptian imagery, in other
words, encompassed the political, but also stretched beyond it a product and symbol of the
increasingly global Roman world.
In addition to considering these issues of production, taking a new look at the Boscotrecase
frescos also requires better understanding the social and spatial function of the room in which
they appeared. Their current arrangement in the Metropolitan Museum of New York gives the
impression that the room was nearly completely preserved yet in fact the frescos are
fragmentary and disjointed. The villa was excavated in a brief period between its discovery and
the eruption of Vesuvius in 1906, which destroyed the site. The landowner, Cavaliere Ernesto
Santini, oversaw the work and made his own records of the finds. Much remains unknown. It
appears that the best quality frescos were removed from the walls immediately, making
reconstruction of the full mural scheme hypothetical. Though the site is most famous today for its
association with the imperial family, the finds and graffiti chiefly reveal a villa devoted to
agricultural production. This context renders the political meaning of the frescos at best partial,
overlooking their function and setting. This essay attempts to rebalance our view of these famous
Egyptian frescos by focusing attention on their material production and local reception.

Lost in translation? On aegyptiaca in the Middle Ages

Dimitri Laboury & Marie Lekane
As Charles Burnett put it in the incipit of a seminal article on the Images of Ancient Egypt in
the Latin Middle Ages (2003), It is commonly thought that the Latin Middle Ages was a
barren period for knowledge of and interest in Egypt between the enthusiasms of the late
hellenistic Neoplatonists and the rediscovery of Horapollo and the Corpus Hermeticum in the
15th century. In this sense, and from the vantage point of this conference aiming at A Cultural
Biography of Ancient Egypt (outside Egypt), the medieval era can be considered as a middle
age or period, between classical Antiquity and the Renaissance. The paper will attempt to
characterise what really changed in this perspective with the end of Antiquity and the collapse
of the Roman Empire in the western figurative uses of and references to Ancient Egypt,
addressing the multiplication and diversification of discourses about this bygone civilization,
as well as the issue of the loss of the Egyptian style. It will then focus on the exceptional case of
some Egyptian-looking sphinxes produced in Rome in the 13th century AD, in order to try
clarifying their meaning and agency.

The Most Famous Lions in Rome: The cultural biography of the Lions of Nectanebo I (r. 380362 BCE), in Museo Gregoriano Egizio at the Vatican
Brian Curran
In this paper, I examine the cultural biography of a pair of ancient Egyptian sculptures whose
once-celebrated public presence in Rome has been largely forgotten. This pair of Egyptian
lions were originally were originally installed in a temple in the Nile Delta by the 30thDynasty pharaoh Nectanebo I, and were brought to Rome during the Imperial period to adorn
the great Temple of Isis (Iseum Campense) in Rome. Sometime before the end of the twelfth
century, they were moved to the nearby Piazza della Rotonda, where they were installed
facing the great porch of the Pantheon. During the 13th-century, they provided models for a
series of Cosmatesque lions sculptures. They were restored several times during the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries and by about 1490 (if not earlier), had been recognized as Egyptian
imports by humanists interested in the hieroglyphic inscriptions on their bases. In the 1580s,
they were removed from their prestigious location in the center of the old city by Pope Sixtus
V who installed them as waterspouts on his monumental new fountain on the Quirinal hill,
where they continued to attract attention from pilgrims, artists, and scholars who praised
them as masterpieces of Egyptian art. In 1835, they were removed to the new Egyptian
museum at the Vatican, where they slowly faded into obscurity. Their story ends in our time,
when the lions returned to greet the life-giving rays of the sun in the upper courtyard of the
Vatican Belvedere.

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Periculosae plenum opus aleae: the Mensa Isiaca, Lorenzo Pignoria and the perils of
cultural translation
Peter Mason
After a brief account of the collection history of the artefact known as the Mensa Isiaca, from
its discovery in the first decades of the 16th century to its admission to the Museo Egizio in
Torino, this contribution continues with an examination of Lorenzo Pignorias interpretation
of that material object and of the uses to which he put that analysis. Firmly rooted at the
micro-level in his own collection of artefacts and in those of his friends as his writings were
it is clear that his interest lay in the study of material objects rather than in the pursuit of
abstract and abstruse theories at the macro-level they bear witness to a comparative
endeavour that spans millennia and continents: ancient Egypt compared with the recently
discovered cultures of Amrica.

Ordering the ancient world Egypt in Piranesis Cammini, 1769

Anne Haslund Hansen
In the 18th century, ancient Egyptian artefacts found their way into illustrated catalogues
where they were published alongside Greek and Roman antiquities. By means of images, these
catalogues presented a set narrative of the ancient cultures. These catalogues served as a
repository of knowledge, while at the same they reflected some of the more general views on
Egypt and the Classical cultures, which were prevalent at the time. They also served an
inspiration for contemporary artists, one of which was Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778)
in his Cammini, designs for chimneypieces, from 1769. For 18th century scholars and artists
alike, the ability to distinguish between the different cultures was considered important, yet in
practice this often proved difficult. One culture was however easy to pinpoint, namely that of
Egypt. To quote Piranesi in Cammini: It is not easy to assign the distinctive character of each [of
the Classical cultures] as clearly as the Egyptian architecture is distinguished from all the rest. I
will discuss the various narratives present in Piranesis interesting and programmatic text and
I will seek to demonstrate how Egypt was used as a tool in the argumentation and how the
Egyptian artefacts were presented and functioned in this particular volume.

Le surtout du Service gyptien offert par Napolon au tsar Alexandre Ier (1804-1808)
Odile Nouvel
Vers 1803 Bonaparte demande Vivant Denon de faire fabriquer par la manufacture de Svres
un nouveau service de porcelaine clbrant "la gloire nationale". Denon suggre alors
Alexandre Brongniart, directeur de la manufacture, de concevoir un Service gyptien avec
surtout. Les travaux commencent vers 1804 et s'achvent en 1808, aprs prs de cinq ans d'un
travail particulirement prilleux et innovant, notamment pour la ralisation du surtout. En
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mme temps, Brongniart lance la fabrication du Service olympique, inspir de l'antiquit

romaine. Aprs avoir envisag de garder ces deux services exceptionnels pour son usage
personnel, Napolon dcide de les offrir tous deux ensemble Alexandre Ier de Russie.
La dcision de Napolon de faire ce cadeau trs inhabituel, apparemment redondant, n'est
pas fortuite et confirme la gmellit des deux services qui articulent la confrontation et la
complmentarit de deux mondes - l'Egypte et Rome. Le surtout gyptien y exerce une aura
qui ne se limite pas la trace mmorielle d'un voyage, fut-il initiatique et scientifique, mais
manifeste sa profonde singularit: son origine dans la campagne d'Egypte, la prsence
d'architectures complexes, la dialectique avec le service de 72 assiettes, la surenchre des
prouesses techniques, les illustres destinataires des deux versions qui ont t ralises, et
jusqu' la cration des Ruines d'Egypte par Anne et Patrick Poirier en 1978.
Si les deux services forment un "Tout" cohrent, leur usage lors des repas d'apparat reste
spar et fait l'objet d'un choix forcment rflchi selon les circonstances dictes par
l'tiquette. Plus qu'aucun autre, chacun des surtouts installe au centre insulaire de la table un
discours idologique et chaque convive, qui sait n'avoir sous les yeux qu'une des deux origines
du monde, est invit voluer du regard curieux du spectateur la mditation de l'initi.

Staging Egypt : the museography of the Egyptian collections in the Louvre during the
19th century
Cecilia Hurley
When advocating the purchase of the second Salt Collection, Champollion declared that the
Louvre should not be ambitioning an Egyptian display but a museum of Egyptian objects.
This paper will examine the museography of the Egyptian collections in the Louvre,
concentrating on this apparent tension between display and museum. How can the material
remains of a civilization be presented? The alternatives proposed in the Universal Exhibitions,
notably the 1867 Exposition Universelle, will be cited, in an attempt to understand how the
material agency of the object can be enhanced by its staging.

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PRACTICAL INFORMATION
HOTEL DE DOELEN
Hotel De Doelen is located in a historic building, with a long history.
Uniquely situated at the Rapenburg, one of the most beautiful canals of Netherlands, the hotel
is located in a rustic Patrician House, built in 1638. The hotel is located in close vicinity of the
Academic heart of Leiden, at a ca. 7 min walk from the central train station.
Route from the train station:
When leaving the station onto the Stationsplein (main station square), please follow the
Stationsweg, straight ahead (this same street is later named Steensstraat). When you reach the
Beestenmarkt (town market square), turn left onto the Blauwpoortsbrug (bridge).
Immediately turn right onto the main street name Turfmarkt (this same street is later named
Prinsessekade), and continue all the way ahead until you reach Kort Rapenburg and then
Rapenburg. Hotel De Doelen is the second building on the left side (i.e., on the left side of the
canal that separates Rapenburg).
Hotel de Doelen
Rapenburg 2
2311 EV Leiden
+31-71-5120527
+31-71-5128453
hotel@dedoelen.com

HOTEL IBIS
Hotel Ibis is a 3-star business hotel right opposite the central train station of Leiden, combining
comfort and accessibility.
Stationsplein 240-242
2312 AR LEIDEN
Tel : (+31)71/5160000

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MAP TO HOTELS:

ROUTE TO CONFERENCE VENUES

Both conference venues are located very close to Hotel de Doelen.
The first venue, Gravensteen, is located at Pieterskerkhof 6, at 2-3 min walking distance from
Hotel de Doelen (see map).
The second venue, the Antiquities Museum, is located at the same side of Rapenburg as Hotel
de Doelen, at less than 1 min walking distance (see map).

14

MAP TO VENUES:

ROUTE TO DINNER VENUES

The welcome dinner (20 Jan) will take place at Wijnbar & Restaurant Wielinga, Nieuwe Rijn 28,
and both conference dinners (21 and 22) will be at Restaurant La Diva, Noordeinde 23. Both
venues are at easy walking distance from Hotel de Doelen and Rapenburg.
On 20 January, one of the organisers/Leiden staff will be in the lobby of Hotel de Doelen at
18.00 and from there lead the way to restaurant Wielinga. And on 21 and 22 January we will set
out together to restaurant La Diva from the conference venue, for those that wish to join.

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TRAVEL FROM SHIPHOL AIRPORT TO LEIDEN

Schiphol Airport is only a 15-20 min train ride away from Leiden central station.
Schiphol station is situated directly below the airport. You can pick up a free baggage trolley
from the platform. Via Schiphol Plaza, you can walk straight to the departure or arrival hall.
You can travel on NS (the Dutch Railways) with either a single-use chipcard or an OVchipkaart. Both are available from the yellow ticket machines with the blue overhead sign
reading traintickets. OV-chipkaart cardholders can also use the ticket machines with the
yellow overhead sign.
The ticket machines are located near the platforms at Schiphol Plaza. Tickets (for domestic
and international travel) are also available from the Ticket- and Service desks, which are
situated close to the red/white-checked cube at Schiphol Plaza. Staff at the desk will also be
able to provide you with train departure information and general information on travelling by
train in Holland.
You travel by checking in and out at the train station before and after your journey.
Trains to Leiden by rule depart from platforms 5 or 6 at Schiphol station, but please check
daily departures and possible platform changes.

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17