The Netherlands Institute for the Near East (NINO) and its rich collections. NINO was founded as an independent institute in 1939 and has always had very strong ties with the university. It became part of the university organisation in 2018. As a result, the collection of clay tablets (the largest in the Netherlands) is now housed in the Leiden University Libraries. The collection contains nearly 3,000 cuneiform documents dating back some 2,100 to 4,300 years. Thanks to NINO and its library specialising in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, Leiden University has built a strong international reputation in Egyptology and Assyriology.
