Conradus Leemans (24 April 1809 – 14 October 1893) was a Dutch

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...

Early life

Conradus Leemans was born in 1809 in Zalt-Bommel, Netherlands, and was the eldest son of physician Dr. Willem Leemans and Hillegonda Rachel Ganderheijden. His parents moved to Leiden, Netherlands, in 1821.

Education

Leemans enrolled at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

in 1826 to study theology, but changed to archaeology in 1828 apparently after meeting with

Caspar Reuvens Caspar Jacob Christiaan Reuvens (22 January 1793 – 26 July 1835) was a Dutch historian and archaeologist. He was the founding director of the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (Dutch National Museum of Antiquities) in Leiden, the world's first ever prof ...

Leiden Museum

In 1834 he was employed at the Leiden Museum and while there became successor to Reuvens as Director, during 1839. He continued in this capacity until sometime during 1891. Leemans organised the first public display of collections of acquisitions made by Reuvens, compiled a catalogue of Egyptian objects (Catalogue raisonnée, 1840), and edited the serial publication of the Monumens égyptiens, this being a lithographic account detailing the collection. Leemans studied the Leiden papyrus while Director of the museum, completing the work begun by Reuvens on this. But while executing the task, Leemans at some time added to the papyri a form of vegetable paper, which was added by him in order to preserve the artifact. Either the paper or glue used to affix the paper has degraded causing some of the writing to become obscured, and Leemans's addition is thought to be fixed permanently, since otherwise too great damage would be done to the artifact in its removal. Leemans became member of the Royal Institute, predecessor to the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

, in 1840. He was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1886.

References

External links

*
Works
by Conradus Leemans at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

. Dutch Egyptologists 1809 births 1893 deaths Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Leiden Members of the American Philosophical Society {{Egyptologist-stub