‘A rather bizarre theatrical performance of my thesis’
Folia is launching a podcast series entitled De illustere universiteit (the illustrious university, Dutch only) about the history of the University of Amsterdam. Huygens Director Dirk van Miert is contributing to the first three episodes as an advisor. Large parts of these episodes are based directly on his thesis Illustrious Education: The Amsterdam Athenaeum in the Golden Age 1632-1704 (2005) and are therefore closely related to his earlier research.
Dirk van Miert does not appear on the podcast himself. He explains: ‘I am not heard, although in the first episode I hear someone speaking a bit of Latin and I believe that is me – at least, I vaguely remember recording a bit of Latin. It is very special to see my thesis transformed into a rather bizarre theatrical performance.’
Academic hotspot on the Oudezijds Achterburgwal
There is a loose historical connection with the Huygens Institute: Vossius and Barlaeus, founders of the university, lived and worked in the immediate vicinity of the Spinhuis, where the institute is located, a short distance from the former Athenaeum in the Agnietenkapel.
