Naturalis
| Naturalis | |
|---|---|
| Naturalis Biodiversity Centre | |
.jpg) Mammoth skeleton on display in the section about prehistoric animals |
|
| Location | Leiden, Netherlands |
| Type | Natural history museum |
| Collection size | 37 million objects[1] |
| Visitors |
271,000 (2011 est.)[2]
|
| Director | Edwin van Huis[3] |
| President | Cees Veerman[3] |
| Public transit access | Leiden Centraal[4] |
| Website | www.naturalis.nl |
Naturalis Biodiversity Center is a national museum of natural history and a research center on biodiversity in Leiden, Netherlands.
Contents |
History [edit]
Naturalis originated from the merger of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (abbreviated RMNH) and the Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie (abbreviated RGM) in 1984. In 1986 it was decided that the museum had to become a public museum and a new building was built. The new building cost about €60 million, making it the second most expensive museum building in the Netherlands.[citation needed]
Collection [edit]
The current museum is known for the numerous objects in its collections. It has approximately 10 million zoological and geological specimens.
- 5,250,000 insects
- 2,290,000 other invertebrates
- 1,000,000 vertebrates
- 1,160,000 fossils
- 440,000 rocks and minerals
- 2,000 gemstones
- 10,000 objects in an educational collection
The collections will be merged with the collections of the Zoölogisch Museum Amsterdam and expanded to approximately 37 million specimens. The merger started in 2011 and is scheduled to be completed in 2012.
The collections are stored in a 60-meter-high tower, a landmark in Leiden, opened in April 1998.
Exhibitions [edit]
Besides its temporary exhibition the museums has several permanent exhibitions:
- Nature Theater (Animals, plants, fungi, one-celled organisms, bacteria, stones, and minerals: an impression of nature in all its various forms.)
- Primeval Parade (A parade of fossils shows the history of the earth and the development of life.)
- Earth (Games and signs inform the visitor about the Earth's complexities.)
- Life (It displays how plants and animals live and survive on earth. )
- Earth Inside (For children and their parents to discover in a playful way how nature works.)
- Biotechnology (Games and movies show the visitor how essential DNA is to all life processes.)
- Treasure Chamber (Special security and storage conditions protect the precious gemstones, including a collection that once belonged to the Dutch King William I, and the mounted skins of animals that became extinct over the past few hundred years.)
Buildings [edit]
-
Entrance Naturalis (Pesthuis/Plague House)
-
Cash register Naturalis (Pesthuis)
-
Naturalis (Museum and Collections) [2013]
-
Naturalis (At the right: bridge with zebra pattern)
References [edit]
- ^ Collections, Naturalis. Retrieved on 08-03-2012.
- ^ (Dutch) Recordjaar aantal scholieren Naturalis (press release), Naturalis, 2011. Retrieved on 08-03-2012.
- ^ a b Who’s who at NCB Naturalis, Naturalis. Retrieved on 08-03-2012.
- ^ Getting there, Naturalis. Retrieved on 08-03-2012.
See also [edit]
External links [edit]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Naturalis Leiden |
- Naturalis, official website
- Naturalis extinct birds, 3D presentation
Coordinates: 52°09′53″N 4°28′24″E / 52.16472°N 4.47333°E
