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L e i d e n-info
Museums
The number of Museums in Leiden is enormous, there are very few cities in the Netherlands with so many museums like Leiden.
But it is not only the great number of museums that gave Leiden her second nickname "museum-city" it's also because of the quality and size of the museums.
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- Municipal Museum de Lakenhal
The Municipal museum in Leiden owes it name to the former "Laecken Halle" or Cloth Hall from 1640, where once the famous Leiden cloth was sampled and sold.
The museum has been located in this building since 1874 with a collection devoted to the art and history of the city of Leiden from the Middle Ages up to present day.
Masterpieces by Lucas van Leiden, Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Floris Verster, Theo van Doesburg and many other give an overall view of the history of arts in the Netherlands.
- Museum Boerhaave
National Musuem of the history of Science and Medicine.
In museum Boerhaave, housed in the old Caeciliagasthuis, you can discover five centuries of
science and medicine. This is holy ground, where Professor Herman Boerhaave gave his famed
tuition at the patients' bedsides. Now the microscopes of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek stand next to
ingenious devices such as electrostatic generators or the pendulum clocks of Christiaan Huygens.
A unique feature is the Anatomical Theatre with an amazing collections of skeletons.
- Naturalis
Naturalis brings natural history to life.
Get up close to thousands of real animals, plants, minerals, rocks and fossils. From humming bird to zebra, from dinosaur to shrimp. Allow yourself to be transported by their amazing beauty or let yourself be inspired by their wealth of colour and shapes. Learn about nature by discovering its wonders for yourself. Naturalis is constantly on the move: there are always new exhibitions, workshops, guided tours and children's activities to experience.
- National Museum of Antiquities
The National museum of Antiquities, come face to face with the ancient Egyptians,
Greeks and Romans and get acquainted with the earliest inhabitants of the Near East and the
Netherlands. This marvellous museum for young and old contains over 6,000 objects from ancient
times.
Discover the fascinating mummies, stand in awe at the might of the Roman emperors and enjoy the
spectacle of a genuine Egyptian temple. The National Museum of Antiquities organizes special
events for children and features temporary exhibitions which really capture the imagination.
- National Museum for Ethnology
The Leiden Museum of Ethnology has been collecting the world's heritage since 1837.
Art treasures thousands of years old, Inca and Aztec statues, Chinese paintings and African bronzes.
But also clothing, weapons, cutlery, children's toys and other household goods used by people
whose sole struggle was to survive under appalling conditions.
The useful and the mysterious, from kayak to cricket-tickling brush.
In addition to the permanent exhibitions you will regularly find something else, something extra.
Artists have their own views on ethnology, and you can see their ideas in the museum gardens.
The gardens and restaurant are open to all, free of charge.
Who knows - you might meet someone there!
- Botanical Gardens (hortus botanicus)
the university of Leiden's botanic gardens, the Hortus Botanicus,
offer the visitor a veritable treasure-trove of greenery and plant life.
For over four hundred years plants from all over the world have been collected and
cultivated here in the gardens and greenhouses for enjoyment and edification of their visitors.
The greenhouse primarily feature plants from the tropics of Asia, including calla lilies from
Sumatra and orchids from Borneo. Walking through the gardens, you will encounter remarkable trees
like the Ginko biloba, which dates from 1785.
The jewel in the crown is the Clusius garden, a reconstruction of the original gardens founded
in 1594.
- National Museum of Coins and Medals
National Museum of Coins and Medals.
A golden Dutch East India Company treasury from the 18th century is collected alongside
Greek and Roman coins, Dutch coins and medals, carved stone and paper money from bygone times.
Since 1816 the museum has collected some 200.000 items.
Temporary exhibitions spotlight various aspects of this national collection.
- Pilgrim Museum
In a modern multimedia exhibition the Pilgrim Museum tells the history and housing of the Pilgrims in Leiden between 1609 and 1620. The Founding Fathers of American society.
- The Valk Municipal Windmill Museum
In 1743 millstones ground the corn in the stone loft while on the floor below,
in the milling loft, the flour was collected in sacks. Today, a visitor to the Valk
tower mill can see, read and hear about the technology, history, craftsmanship and
life of the Dutch miller of yesteryear.
- The City Archive
Five kilometres of shelves with original documents from
1290 tot the present day;800 metres of library shelves; more than 100.000 prints,
photographs and illustrations.The City Archive, the memory of the historic town of Leiden,
and of the villages of Zoeterwoude, Warmond, Rijnsburg and Leiderdorp,
guides the visitor in the past.
- Center of Contemporary Art
The Leiden Center of Contemporary Art (CBK) organizes exhibitions and visial art
projects and hires out artworks from the collection.
above you find a bief description of several museums in Leiden
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