The Leiden Hofjes: Find out more about the courtyards in Leiden and their history
Every year in May, the courtyards of Leiden come alive during the Leiden Hofjes Festival. At Whitsun, visitors can wander through these hidden spaces while enjoying concerts featuring a wide variety of musical genres and performances, from jazz to classical music, from blues to children’s performances. It’s a whole weekend of lively culture set within some of the city’s most charming locations. This year, the Leidse Hofjes Festival will take place on May 24 and 25, once again opening the doors to these unique places. But what exactly are the Leiden hofjes?
The Leiden hofjes date back more than 500 years and were built in Holland between the 13th and 19th centuries as a form of social care. Founded by private citizens, often wealthy city administrators or members of the lower aristocracy, these courtyards provided housing for the poor. Donors hoped to secure a place in heaven and therefore often had the hofjes named after themselves, saints, or Biblical places, believing that the residents’ prayers would benefit their souls. Residents lived rent-free and frequently received food and clothing, in exchange for good behaviour and gratitude. The hofjes were usually built on small leftover plots between crowded housing blocks, consisting of modest dwellings without rear windows, facing a communal garden with a shared water pump. Toilets were initially simple shared shacks with barrels for waste, though later many houses were improved with private sanitary facilities and sometimes enlarged.
Leiden once had around 200 hofjes, about a quarter of all hofjes in the Netherlands, and today 36 remain, mostly in the city centre. This is still remarkable compared with other Dutch cities such as Amsterdam (47), Haarlem (19), Gouda (7), and Delft (4). The first courtyard in Leiden was the Jeruzalemshof, founded in 1467 by merchant Wouter IJsbrandsz after a visit to Jerusalem. It originally contained 13 dwellings for poor men; women were allowed to live there only to care for them and had to leave after the resident died. In the 20th century, many courtyards fell into disrepair due to lack of funds, and some, such as Klein Sionshof, even became uninhabitable.
Today, the hofjes in Leiden are still lived-in residential spaces, and while many of them are freely accessible, they remain quiet and private communities. Residents generally welcome brief visits, but visitors are expected to respect their privacy by viewing the courtyards from the entrance and avoiding walking onin? the gardens themselves. In most cases, the hofjes can be visited without charge, although some have restricted opening hours, typically from Monday to Saturday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Visitors are also asked to be considerate by not blocking entrances with bicycles or leaving litter behind, helping to preserve the peaceful atmosphere that defines these places.
If you want to know more about the Leiden Hofjes Festival you can check our website. And if you’d like to visit them outside of that weekend, a courtyard walking tour map is available for €6.95 at the VVV tourist office. If you prefer a more in-depth experience, you can also join a guided tour of the courtyards, just check this guided tours page for more information.
At the same time, the hofjes play a cultural role today. During the Leiden Hofjes Festival. the courtyards are fully opened to the public and transformed into intimate performance spaces. In this way, the festival highlights Leiden as a city of knowledge and culture, turning the historic courtyards themselves into a living stage shared between residents, visitors, and artists.