LEEUWARDEN, the capital of the province of Friesland, Holland, on the canal between Harlingen and Groningen, 33 m.
by rail W. of Groningen. Pop. (1930) 48,548. Leeuwarden grew up round the court of the Frisian stadtholders; and it is an ex ceptionally clean town. The Prince's Garden, originally laid out by William Frederick of Nassau in 1648, was given to the town by King William I. in 1819. The royal palace, seat of the Frisian court from 1603 to is now the residence of the royal com missioner for Friesland. The Kanselary was begun in 1502 as a residence for the chancellor of George of Saxony (1539), gov ernor of Friesland, but was only completed in 1571 and served as a court house until 1811. It was restored at the end of the i9th century to contain the provincial library and national archives.
Other noteworthy buildings are the weigh-house (1595), the town hall (1715), and the great church of St. Jacob, once the church of the Jacobins, and the largest monastic church in the Netherlands. The unfinished tower of Oldehove dates from
5529-32. The museum of the Frisian Society contains a col lection of provincial antiquities, including two rooms from Hin deloopen, an ancient village of Friesland, some Frisian works in silver of the i 7th and i8th centuries, and a collection of porce lain and faience. Leeuwarden is easily accessible from all parts of the province by road, rail and canal. The chief business is in stock of every kind, dairy and agricultural produce and fresh water fish, a large quantity of which is exported. The industries include boat-building and timber yards, iron-foundries, copper and lead works, furniture, organ, tobacco and other factories, and the manufacture of gold and silver wares. The town is first mentioned in documents of the 13th century.