400 Years of Arabic Studies in the Netherlands Exhibit in Leiden

Here's something for those too mired down with chemical weapons attacks and other issues of the day:  an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden: Excellence and Dignity. 400 years of Arabic studies in the Netherlands.

May 2013 marked the 400th anniversary of the inaugural lecture by Leiden’s first professor of Arabic studies, Thomas Erpenius (1584–1624): ‘On the Excellence and Dignity of Arabic’. In Leiden, Arabic studies are a deep-rooted local tradition that is well known all over the world. Scholars such as Scaliger, Erpenius, Golius, De Goeje, and Snouck Hurgronje have become world renowned.

Happy 400th, Leiden.