First woman to study at UU immortalised in a mural

Anna Maria van Schurman (1607–1678) made history in 1636, the same year Utrecht University (UU) was founded. She was the first woman allowed to attend the university's lectures. She lived next door to the famous professor Voetius, who was deeply impressed by her talent for languages: van Schurman was fluent not only in Latin and Greek but also in Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac and Arabic. But that's not all: she also had some knowledge of medicine, philosophy, and theology, as her father had given her lessons in these subjects.

When Utrecht University was inaugurated in 1636, Voetius asked her to recite a Latin poem of her own. Van Schurman's poem lamented the fact that women were not admitted to the university. Voetius then made an exception for her, and she became the first woman to attend lectures at UU. 

However, she was only allowed to do so from a sort of box, screened off by a small curtain, so that male students could not see her. Van Schurman remained the only woman to study at UU until the late 19th century.

She gained international renown through her publications of poems and essays. Her book Opuscula Hebraea Graeca Latina et Gallica, prosaica et metrica, published in 1648, contained short fragments of prose and poetry in Hebrew, Latin, Greek and French and was distributed worldwide.

Van Schurman lived at Achter de Dom 8 for 40 years. The new mural is on the corner of Achter de Dom and Voetiusstraat. Created by the artist collective De Strakke Hand, the artwork was commissioned as part of the 390th anniversary celebrations of Utrecht University and the University Medical Centre Utrecht. 

Scientific wall murals
This is the seventh in a series of academically inspired wall murals embellishing the streets of Utrecht. Previous murals featured Professor Donders, a pioneer of ophthalmology in the Netherlands; UU physicist Caroline Bleeker with her phase-contrast microscope; and Professor Buys Ballot, who tested the Doppler effect, among others.

The initiative for the series of scientific murals came from Professor Ingmar Swart and Sander Kempkes. Kempkes was completing her PhD at Utrecht University when they conceived the series together. Swart: “We started with stories we knew from the natural sciences, as this is our field of expertise. But the university has a rich history, with valuable contributions in other fields as well. That's why, at a certain point, we began creating murals of famous Utrecht-based scientists from other disciplines.”

Photo: DUB

Earlier murals featured physics equations. "Equations tell a story, just as poems do," says Swart. "However, for a lot of people, they are still a bit daunting. That's why we wanted to use murals to show the stories those equations tell, and who the scientists were, so that people could relate to them. We hoped the murals would spark interest among passers-by, who would realise this work was done by people from Utrecht; people who walked the same streets as us. That’s our way of showing what science contributes to society.”

Photo: DUB

Female scientists
Swart also highlights the stories of women who worked as scientists. The idea for a mural paying homage to Anna Maria van Schurman was developed in collaboration with the Utrecht University anniversary committee. “In the past, much of the scientific work was carried out by white men, but female scientists certainly existed as well. We had already honoured Caroline Bleeker with a mural and wanted to highlight another woman in the following mural. It’s wonderful that we could immortalise Anna Maria van Schurman on the wall.”

Last year, DUB interviewed Pieta van Beek, Anna Maria van Schurman’s biographer. Her book The First Female Student: Anna Maria van Schurman (1636) was published in 2004. Last year, Van Beek published The Wonder of the World in Utrecht: Life and Legacy of Anna Maria van Schurman (1636–2025).