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The history of the UvA

The history of the UvA

It all began in 1632 as the Athenaeum Illustre, before the UvA truly became the University of Amsterdam in 1877.

tijdlijn

Magazine | From city school to world university

28 augustus 2026 - 15:00

Magazine | From city school to world university

394 years ago, the predecessor of the university, the Athenaeum Illustre, was founded in Amsterdam. In a small chapel on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, lectures in Latin were given to the children of the city elite. But the founding of the Athenaeum Illustre in 1632, and the two centuries that followed...

Gijsbert van Tienhoven (1869): former professor who played a key role in transforming the Athenaeum Illustre into a university (Dutch spoken)

23 juni 2026 - 07:30

Folia's podcast series on the history of the University of Amsterdam

In the fifteenth and final episode of De Illustere Universiteit, the Athenaeum Illustre evolves into the University of Amsterdam. Thanks to the political resolve of former Professor of Law Gijsbert van Tienhoven (1841–1914), together with the new Higher Education Act of 1876, Amsterdam succeeded i...

Aletta Jacobs (1876): the first female student at the Athenaeum Illustre (Dutch spoken)

2 juni 2026 - 07:45

Folia's podcast series on the history of the University of Amsterdam

David Jacob van Lennep (1799): the pride of the Athenaeum who suspended his lectures over hazing (Dutch spoken)

19 mei 2026 - 07:45

Folia's podcast series on the history of the University of Amsterdam

In the thirteenth episode of De Illustere Universiteit, hazing practices in Amsterdam become too much for David Jacob van Lennep (1774–1853). The professor of Latin and Greek increasingly found himself at odds with the initiation rituals carried out by senior students. It is said that these confli...

ASC fraternity showed it was possible “to say no to the Germans” by disbanning in 1941

1 mei 2026 - 11:30

Members of the Viator fraternity house during the war years.

On 4 May, we reflect on the war years. The dissolution of the Amsterdam student corps in 1941 shows that students took the lead in the resistance against the German occupiers. “Even the Germans noticed that.”

Gerardus Vrolik (1796): professor of obstetrics who left behind an anatomical collection associated with scientific racism

28 april 2026 - 07:45

Folia's podcast series on the history of the University of Amsterdam

The free-spirited UvA department of gay studies paved the way for same-sex marriage

1 april 2026 - 07:45

The free-spirited UvA department of gay studies paved the way for same-sex marriage

On April 1, 2001, four same-sex couples said “I do” to each other in Amsterdam. It was a world first. Yet for Amsterdam it may have felt like a logical step: at the UvA, a department of gay studies had already spent a decade and a half working on what they called “the conceptualization of th...

Mattheus Soeten (1709 to 1733): the last scholar who kept the Athenaeum Illustre afloat (Dutch spoken)

3 maart 2026 - 10:00

Mattheus Soeten (1709 to 1733): the last scholar who kept the Athenaeum Illustre afloat (Dutch spoken)

In the eighth episode of De Illustere Universiteit, the Athenaeum Illustre hits a low point. The illustrious school was hit hard by budget cuts in the early 18th century. Chairs were eliminated and teaching nearly came to a halt. But Mattheus Soeten, just a lecturer without a degree, kept the Amster...

Gebrand van Leeuwen (1686): the first theologian at the Athenaeum Illustre to mediate religious conflicts (Dutch spoken)

17 februari 2026 - 07:00

Gebrand van Leeuwen (1686): the first theologian at the Athenaeum Illustre to mediate religious conflicts (Dutch spoken)

In the seventh episode of De Illustere Universiteit (Dutch spoken), the Athenaeum Illustre appoints its first professor of theology: Gebrand van Leeuwen (1643-1721). With the establishment of the faculty of theology, the atheneum gained the stature of a small university, marking a milestone in the h...

75 years of Esperanto at the UvA: a language of peace “that is more relevant than ever”

30 januari 2026 - 08:00

Esperanto

Nowhere else in Europe is Esperanto as popular as at the UvA. The language was originally devised to promote peace and break down borders. In the current climate, marked by geopolitical tensions and growing nationalism, the language is therefore more relevant than ever, says Federico Gobbo, Professo...

Frederik Ruysch (1685): the world-famous anatomist who turned anatomy upside down with his knowledge of plants (Dutch spoken)

27 januari 2026 - 08:00

Folia's podcast series on the history of the University of Amsterdam.

From a small school to the Netherlands’ largest university: the University of Amsterdam turns 394

14 januari 2026 - 12:10

From a small school to the Netherlands’ largest university: the University of Amsterdam turns 394

On Thursday, the UvA celebrates its 394th anniversary. But how did it all begin? The Folia podcast De Illustere Universiteit delves into the past, tracing how a small school founded in 1632 grew into the largest university in the Netherlands.

Blasius (1660): founder of medical education who claimed credit for others’ discoveries (Dutch spoken)

6 januari 2026 - 08:00

Folia's podcast series on the history of the University of Amsterdam.

Finally a portrait of a woman in Agnietenkapel? No change a year after student proposal

18 december 2025 - 15:04

The auditorium in the Agnietenkapel with the 38 paintings from the Van Papenbroeck collection.

There is not a single portrait of a woman or a person of colour in the Agnietenkapel. However, the auditorium, where nearly seven hundred PhD students graduate each year, features 38 portraits of old, white men. Exactly one year after UvA students submitted a proposal for a new interior design for t...

Marie du Saar (1860–1955) was the first woman to earn a doctorate at the UvA

3 december 2025 - 08:00

Marie du Saar around 1886

Marie du Saar (1860–1955) was the first woman to earn a doctorate at the UvA and the first female medical specialist in the Netherlands. Yet her name has almost disappeared from the collective memory, and many misconceptions about the scientist persist. Historian Tineke van Loosbroek aims to final...

Alexander Morus (1653): the professor of church history who forfeited his status through prostitution and falsehoods (Dutch spoken)

2 december 2025 - 08:00

Folia's podcast series on the history of the University of Amsterdam

Martinus Hortensius (1634): how the ambitious astronomer fell into obscurity (Dutch spoken)

18 november 2025 - 08:30

Folia is launching a new podcast series on the history of the University of Amsterdam.

Prominent Amsterdammers make way for colonial past in revised canon

13 november 2025 - 12:39

View of the courtyard of the East India House on Kloveniersburgwal around 1800.

How did Amsterdam become the city it is today? The Canon of Amsterdam explains this through stories and events. To mark Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary, the canon was revamped. Which stories remained, which were added and why? A committee of experts led by UvA historian Paul Knevel was involved ...

Colonial past UvA | Preliminary research outlines involvement in slavery

7 november 2025 - 18:00

The former VOC room in the Bushuis/Oost-Indisch huis, now known as the Kartini room.

The UvA was involved in colonialism and slavery in its research and education. This is evident from preliminary research into the UvA’s colonial and slavery past, conducted by the NIOD. The report was presented to the Executive Board on 7 November.

Vossius and Barlaeus (1632): how Amsterdam challenged Leiden‘s academic monopoly (Dutch spoken)

4 november 2025 - 08:00

Folia is launching a new podcast series on the history of the University of Amsterdam.

In the new Folia podcast De Illustere Universiteit, we delve into the history of the University of Amsterdam. In this first episode, two scholars from Leiden, Vossius and Barlaeus, are approached about a small school in Amsterdam, the Athenaeum Illustre. Leiden tried to block the foundation of the a...

Folia launches new podcast series about the “illustrious university”

31 oktober 2025 - 10:00

Folia starts a new podcast series about the history of the UvA.

Following our podcast series ‘The time of your life’, ‘Vraag 2’ and ‘Smoor’, a new Folia podcast series (in Dutch) is scheduled fas of next week. This time, it will be about the illustrious university, a series about the history of the UvA. Five questions for Folia’s podcast maker Jip ...

An ode to the masterminds of Amsterdam

6 oktober 2025 - 12:43

An ode to the masterminds of Amsterdam

Amsterdam is littered with street names that pay tribute to thinkers, inventors and scientists. You will find many of them in Amsterdam East in particular. Three scientists highlighted.

UvA students saved hundreds of Jewish children in World War II

28 april 2025 - 10:06

Hollandsche Schouwburg

Acting as if it were their own babies in the prams or simply taking children by the hand: Amsterdam students smuggled hundreds of Jewish children to hiding addresses. Researcher Anna Boogaard is writing a book about the women who resisted the Nazi-regime.

From the Athenaeum Illustre to “capital chauvinism”; what role did the UvA play in 750 years of Amsterdam?

6 januari 2025 - 13:45

The Athenaeum Illustre on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal in 1723

October marks Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary, and this will be celebrated in a major way. Over the past years, the UvA has been an important factor in the city; from the founding of predecessor Athenaeum Illustre, to the place where protesters gather to speak out on social issues. How did the city ...

UvA to investigate its own colonial past

9 maart 2023 - 16:15

The Agnieten Chapel on Oudezijds Voorburgwal. This was the location of the Athenaeum Illustre, the predecessor of the University of Amsterdam.

Next spring, the UvA will launch a major research project investigating its own involvement in the Dutch colonial and slavery history. According to a statement by the UvA, the research will be conducted by an “independent and renowned institute” with expertise in this field, which is yet to be d...

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