Leiden – Christian Hagen, 1675
FAMOUS WALL MAP OF LEIDEN
“Lugdunum Batavorum 1675.” The renowned so-called ‘Kleine Hagen’. Engraving printed from multiple copper plates. “Surveyed and drawn by Johan Dou the younger” and engraved by Christia(e)n (van) Hagen. Coloured by a later hand. Size (print): approx. 84 × 94 cm.
Wall map of Leiden: a city plan with a panoramic view from the south. On the left are depictions of the Pieterskerk, the “Pancras” or Hooglandse Kerk, the university with botanical garden, the Lakenhal (Cloth Hall), the Nieuw Gefundeerde Kerk (a church that never progressed beyond its foundations due to lack of funds), the town hall, the “Burcht” (citadel), and the Marekerk. On the right: the Wittepoort, Morspoort, Hogewoerdsbinnenpoort, Koepoort, Blauwpoort, Rijnsburger- or Haarlemmerpoort, Marepoort, and Zijlpoort. Along the top, festoons connect the coat of arms of the city with those of the four reigning burgomasters. The map includes cartouches with allegorical figures and numbered references to street and building names.
At the end of the 16th and during the first half of the 17th century, the medieval parts of the city became significantly more densely built-up. Overcrowding, shifts in the city’s social composition, and changes in the function of buildings and canals led to inner courtyards and plots being filled with narrow alleyways and housing clusters — the so-called poorten. The workers’ houses built in these alleys were very small and often of poor quality. To address the increasingly urgent shortage of space, the city was expanded in several phases during the first half of the 17th century. Part of this consisted of logical infill developments on relatively small plots adjacent to the old city limits. Throughout these expansions, the city council attempted — with varying degrees of success — to regulate the layout of plots and building construction. Their approach combined urban planning, social, environmental, and aesthetic considerations. Because many residents were labourers and small craftsmen, the new neighbourhoods primarily catered to them. The city attempted to encourage grander architecture by creating broad, dignified canals like the Oude Vest, but simple and uniform small- and medium-sized houses dominated the streetscape.
After the city expansions were completed, a commission was issued in 1667 to produce a new, large map of Leiden. At that time, the city had around 65,000 inhabitants. In line with both its new size and Leiden’s prestige, the map was intended as a fitting piece of civic propaganda.
The Rijnland surveyor Johannes Dou (1615 – 1682) needed more than a year and a half to complete the design drawing. Initially, the renowned Joan Blaeu was contracted to engrave and publish the map, but after a major fire destroyed Blaeu’s printing house, most of the work was instead carried out by Christiaen van Hagen (ca. 1635 – 1688).
The large city plan surrounded by depictions of major buildings – the so-called Grote Hagen – was completed in 1670. Because the result was received with great satisfaction, a few years later the reduced version described here was published, enhanced with additional images of the city gates.
Literature: E. Pelinck, “De Kaart van Hagen” – in Leids Jaarboekje 1954 pp. 113-127
Price: SOLD
