0:10

when you are here on a Sunday morning at

0:15

traffic and you walk along the city you

0:19

can still feel as if it is the 17th

0:22

century so the physical state of the

0:26

city is almost as it was in the 17th

0:29

century

0:31

whenever you walk around the city you

0:35

know something of its past you feel that

0:39

history is coming out of the facade of

0:43

almost every building every building has

0:45

his own story story sometimes with a

0:49

local meaning often with the National

0:51

meaning and sometimes with an

0:53

international meaning even though Leiden

0:56

is the birthplace of Rembrandt most

0:58

people associate the city of Amsterdam

1:00

with the master yet Rembrandt would not

1:03

have been so successful when he moved to

1:05

Amsterdam without the opportunities

1:07

afforded to him as a young artist in

1:09

Leiden not many people know that a

1:13

cradle office Octavio Becerra enlighten

1:15

and Leiden is to blame for it partly the

1:18

house where he was born and where he was

1:20

raised was torn down as late as the

1:23

early 20th century which was a blemish

1:27

who just just razed to the ground such

1:30

an important David it was must have been

1:32

a little house for all his father was a

1:34

millon but still we do see a fourth are

1:37

the old university buildings the leftist

1:39

school was still around and don’t forget

1:42

he was still a young boy when he was

1:44

here he was raised here he was born here

1:48

the basis of his mastery is in the city

1:52

and you can tell

1:55

he had a very humble background however

1:58

he had brains his parents took him

2:01

through university after the latter

2:02

school to educate himself and I think in

2:05

his early paintings you can already

2:07

sense that there must have been

2:09

intellectual training he left the city

2:14

when he was quite young so in the

2:17

beginning he was already seen as quite a

2:18

big talent when he still lived in like

2:21

everyone remembered him as a as a great

2:24

son of the city even in the 17th century

2:27

on one of the mayor’s who also was one

2:30

of the city’s historians wrote about

2:32

Leiden its past and he wrote quite a lot

2:36

about Rembrandt because he was very

2:38

famous in those days in the 17th and

2:44

18th centuries lightens economy was

2:46

based on the production of cloth and

2:48

along with Lyon France it was one of the

2:51

biggest textile producers in Europe in

2:54

the beginning of the 17th century the

2:57

city was booming and you felt the wealth

2:59

in those days there was money for

3:02

everything in England the Industrial

3:04

Revolution started and when people from

3:08

Leiden lost a lot of their markets half

3:10

of the population went away

3:13

and new industrialization came with

3:17

factories canned food for all kind of

3:20

heavy forges and this remained until the

3:24

60s of the 20th century and then every

3:29

traditional industry disappeared with

3:33

the devastating loss of jobs and

3:35

industry there was huge unemployment and

3:37

light and quickly deteriorated much of

3:40

the city’s infrastructure and buildings

3:42

quickly fell into disrepair throughout

3:44

all the economic ups and downs the one

3:47

constant for the city was Leiden

3:49

University the oldest university in the

3:51

Netherlands and one of the defining

3:53

aspects of the city’s profile during

3:55

Rembrandt’s era Leiden is mining its

3:58

heritage as a city of culture and

4:00

knowledge as Rembrandt’s City because of

4:03

the economic decline in the 18th and

4:05

19th centuries much of the city’s center

4:08

remains as it was during Rembrandt’s

4:10

time a visitor understands what it must

4:13

have been like for Rembrandt to walk

4:14

along the cobblestone streets to be

4:17

inspired by the intellectual life

4:18

associated with the University it is a

4:21

city that once again inspires and

4:23

excites it sparks ideas through its 17th

4:26

century character now more than ever

4:29

Leiden is showing itself to be rooted in

4:31

its 17th century history

4:42

[Music]

4:56

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