Social Program
Social Program
All social program items are included in the fee for participants and partners.
The social program of the AOI 2025 congress consists of the following items:
Thursday June 19, 2025 – 17:15 – 21:00
| 17:15 – 18:30 | Guided tour through the Rijksmuseum Boerhaave | |
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| 18:30 – 21:00 | Welcome reception in the garden of the museum (depends on the weather condition) or at the Museum Café | |
The reception will be hosted by the mayor and the municipality of Leiden.
Your will have ample time to mingle with old and new colleagues.
Drinks and heavy hors d’oeuvres (walking dinner) will be provided.
Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, the Netherlands’ treasure house of science and medicine and winner of the European Museum of the Year Award 2019.
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Friday June 20, 2025 17:30 –18:30
Boat tour through the Leiden canals
Guided boat tour, including drinks on board.
You will be accompanied from the Academy Building to the embarkation site at the Apothekersdijk, approximately a ten-minute walk, or you can leave from your hotel.
Leiden is a city rich in water and while boating, you can enjoy the many beautiful and historical sights of the old and modern parts of the city. A boat tour through Leiden takes you back in time.
This boat tour ends at the Botanical Gardens of the Hortus Botanicus.
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Friday June 20, 2025, 18:30 – 21:30
Buffet/dinner at the Botanical Gardens
You will have the opportunity to visit the Hortus Botanicus, during the evening but also on Friday June 20; free entrance is provided by showing your congress badge.
The entrance is adjacent to the Academy Building.
Drinks and the buffet/dinner will be served in the four centuries-old botanical Gardens. The buffet will take place in the beautiful 18th century ‘Orangerie” of the Botanical Gardens or in the garden itself, depending on the weather conditions.
The Hortus Botanicus Leiden is the oldest botanical garden in The Netherlands. The oldest section of the Hortus, dating back to 1590, has been recreated as the current Front Garden. It has been renovated with new plants and in 2000, a new glasshouse was added to form the Winter Garden. The Clusius Garden gives an impression of what the Hortus looked like around 1600, when the bonds between The Netherlands and Asia were formed. Many Asian plants were introduced to Europe through this garden, and the Japanese Garden bears witness to the exchange of plants and knowledge be-tween these cultures. The Hortus’ pride, Victoria amazonica, can be admired in the Victoria Glasshouse. The garden is a place of pure relaxation and beauty, where you can socialize with your friends during one of the shortest nights of the year.
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Saturday June 21, 2025, 15:15 – 16:30
Guided walking tour through the historical city of Leiden
Guided walking tour through historical Leiden.
This tour will start from the Academy Building and ends at 16:30.
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Saturday June 21, 2025, 18:30 drinks, 19:15 gala dinner – 22:00
Drinks and gala dinner “Rijksmuseum van Oudheden” / the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities
Dress code: men coat & tie; women festive
The Dutch National Museum of Antiquities brings archaeology and the ancient world to life. At the museum, everyone can explore the age-old civilizations of Egypt, the Classical World, the ancient Near East, and the Netherlands in prehistoric, Roman, and medieval times. In 2018 the museum celebrated its 200th anniversary.
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Besides all social program items, which are included in the fee for partners, we herewith provide you with some extra highlights of Leiden, to visit during your stay in Leiden:
| Sieboldhuis Rapenburg 19 2311 Ge Leiden |
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The aim of Japan Museum Sieboldhuis ’Stichting Japanmuseum Sieboldhuis’ is to exhibit (museum) collections relevant to Japanese art, culture, science and nature, in particular the Leiden Siebold Collection, as well as to strengthen the ties between the Netherlands and Japan.
Leiden University cooperates closely with the Sieboldhuis and has strong ties with Japan.
Buy your tickets online.
Bibliotheca Thysiana, Library
Rapenburg 25
2311 GG Leiden
Bibliotheca Thysiana was founded by testament by the young Dutch legal expert Johannes Thysius (1622-1653). It is the only Dutch book collection from the seventeenth century housed in the original purpose-built library.
The collection contains some 2,500 books and several thousand pamphlets on a great variety of subjects. The collection contains an original Bleau atlas and a Vesalius book on Anatomy.
Please indicate on the registration form if you are interested in a special organized guided tour of one hour. Entrance tickets cannot be ordered online. If there is enough interest, we may organize a tour on Thursday morning, June 19, before the conference.
| Leiden American Pilgrim Museum |  |
Located in a beautifully preserved house built approximately 1365-1370 near the clock tower of the Hooglandse Kerk, the Leiden American Pilgrim museum tells the stories of the founders of New England, the Pilgrims.
Buy your tickets online.
If there is enough interest, we may organise a tour of the Pieterskerk, the church where many of the Pilgrims were baptized. This would be on Thursday morning, June 19, before the conference.