The late-Gothic Pieterskerk is the spiritual centre of old Leiden, an immense brick hall church that has lost its tower (it collapsed in 1512 and was never rebuilt) but kept its enormous, calm interior. The whitewashed walls and clear-glass windows reflect the iconoclasm of the Reformation, when this Catholic parish church was stripped and made Protestant.
The church is no longer used for regular services and now hosts concerts, exhibitions, and the annual matriculation ceremony of Leiden University. Inside are tombstones of generations of Leiden grandees and academics, including the painter Jan Steen and the orientalist Joseph Scaliger. The surrounding square — the Pieterskerkplein — is the prettiest in town.