Dear friends of the institute,

We had meant to send you a much more cheerful newsletter. The fact, however, is that, because of the (COVID-19) Corona pandemic, we have had to cancel our semester for the students. We are now setting up distance teaching to continue the rest of the semester with our students, who will be back in Belgium and the Netherlands. They are all traveling (or have already traveled) back to their countries by Thursday 19 March, noon, when Egypt closes its airspace for incoming flights.

We have also had to cancel the archaeological missions under our care, as well as all types of planned visits to our institute. There will be no lectures or films, no new Dutch course from April (the Dutch course underway, with students still to be examined, will be finished online). All our activities which require physical presence have been suspended or have been reduced to an absolute minimum until further notice.

The institute is effectively in ‘lock down’, although we maintain minimal presence. If you have questions, please send us an email at info@nvic.leidenuniv.nl and allow for some days to receive an answer.

Business contacts can still come to our opening hours, which will be on Mondays only, from 9.00 a.m. until noon. Visitors will be required to treat their hands with disinfectant gel at the kiosk of our guards before they are allowed in. We avoid shaking hands and maintain a minimal distance of 1.5 m. Please announce your arrival by sending a message to our info box (see above).

I wish everybody good health and the necessary strength to cope with these difficult times. Please follow our announcements on our website and on Facebook.

Best regards,
Dr. Rudolf de Jong
Director of the NVIC