Leiden’s Monumental Urinal

Public urinals are usually seen as a last resort, rarely clean and usually accompanied by a quite unpleasant smell. Very rarely are they seen as architectural masterpieces or national monuments. However, the urinal on the Havenplein in Leiden is both of these things.

The urinal was built in 1930 in the famous Amsterdam School style. (Ironically, the urinal monument in Amsterdam—yes, more than one public urinal has been given national monument status in the Netherlands—is in a different architectural style altogether.)