Silhouette of the Academy Building in Leiden, the Netherlands

The Academy Building has been in use by Leiden University since 1581. Before that it was the church of a cloister. The tower was added to the building in the 17th century. The Academy Building is used for graduations (MAs, PhDs), inaugurations of new professors and also for some lectures.
On September 26, 1940, professor Cleveringa held a speech in this building, to protest against the Nazi's measure to fire all the Jewish staff from the University. He held the speech at the time the Jewish professor Meijers was suppose to give his lecture. After the speech the national anthem was sung, prof. Cleveringa was interned and shortly afterwards Leiden University was closed for the duration of the war. Meijers survived the war to rewrite large part of the civil code in the Netherlands.
After the war, on May 10, 1946, Churchill received an honourary doctorate from Leiden University. According to tradition he put his signature on the wall of the so called Sweat Room in the Academy Building. For pictures of the ceremony