Permanent exhibition of the Pilgrims in the Pieterskerk Leiden

The Pilgrims settled in Leiden in the shadow of the Pieterskerk, the largest and oldest city church. There the Pilgrims had their marriages, baptisms, and the deceased registered in the books. They also had many of their fellow believers buried there, including their leader John Robinson (1576-1625). In 1891, on American initiative, a memorial plaque was unveiled on the outside of the baptistery of the Pieterskerk Leiden. The Pilgrim history, which had begun to take on almost mythical proportions in the United States, also became visible in Leiden. Since then, there has been regular attention from America for the Leiden chapter of the Pilgrim history. For that reason many of the international visitors to the Pieterskerk Leiden are of America origin.

Baptistery

Children have not been baptized in the former baptistery for decades now, but this quiet corner of the monument is still an important place to visit. Like many of his friends and fellow believers, John Robinson leader of the Pilgrims was buried in the Pieterskerk, in his case the baptistery. He was the one who brought the Pilgrims from England to Leiden and would eventually remain in Leiden to take care of those who could not yet travel to America. In 1625, five years after the departure of the Mayflower, Robinson died in one of the houses of the Jean Pesynhof located opposite the square of the Pieterskerk Leiden. The Pilgrims had been already living there for seventeen years. The baptistery is where our American and English visitors walk past to reunited with their history in the Pieterskerk, the almost 900 year old monumental city church. A small exhibition has been set up in the baptistery in which the Leiden chapter is told in the Pilgrim Saga.