Miracle of Leiden
Posted by: 
naj16
N 52° 09.728 E 004° 29.490
31U E 602019 N 5780119
In this street, a miracle happened.
Waymark Code: WMGVK1
Location: Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Date Posted: 04/12/2013
Views: 30
November 1315, around Saint Thomasday, a comet appeared in the sky. The comet was clearly visible until March of the following year, a very bad prediction for the coming year. In 1316 the harvest failed, a plague epidemic broke out and there was a great famine in and around Leiden.
In one of the streets behind the Marendorpsestraat (now the Haarlemmerstraat) a woman still was the lucky owner of a loaf of bread, which she had eaten half. Her neighbour, who had terrible hunger, asked her for a piece of bread. “I do not have any bread” the woman lied. “If I had, God would change it to stone”. This is what happened, at once the bread turned to stone. Since then this street, which was called Sint Annenstraat, is called the Mirakelsteeg.
The petrified bread was according to a notary deed from 1574 brought to the Pieterskerk and stored as a relic in a square red box. In 1885 Bernard De Bont, Secretary-curator of the Amstelkring wrote that he had the petrified bread and he also had a certificate of authenticity from 1600. That statement was indeed true, this was the bread from 1315.
What's the Real Story?:
In 1950 the bread came into the possession of the museum Lakenhal, where it still can be visited. Here was a study of the composition of the bread. It turned out to be quartz porphyry with small crystals of feldspar and quartz, a so-called Scandinavian pebble that certainly can not be found in Leiden. Probably the stone was brought to Leiden as ballast in a ship. These stones were often used for paving or dikes.
Website Source: [Web Link]
Additional Requirement?: Not listed
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