The Naturalis Museum, or, to give it its English name, the Museum of Natural History, is an…read moreenormous natural history museum in the city of Leiden, in the Netherlands. The museum is a new building, situated on 4 floors and is located near to the university, opposite the site of the famous mental hospital. I apparently houses over 10 million objects.
Upon entering the museum there's an option to plan your visit using a map on the wall, get a coffee from the cafe, or use the toilets. There's a reception desk for purchasing tickets for entry into the museum, though this is rather small and queues are large. There's no way of the staff actually making sure everyone who enters has paid, as it's on one side of a large foyer, which is always crowded with people going in all different directions, or just standing around.
After the reception area is a shop which mainly sells books on things related to natural history - dinosaurs, animals, fish, plants etc, but also a few toys and games and the usual gift shop items. Further on is a section on dead animals. There are a lot of wooden drawers filled with bones. It's interesting, in a sense, but I thought it a bit boring to have to open lots of drawers looking at bones.
Past this section there's a bridge and in the centre of the bridge there's a bull, called Hermann, who was the first genetically-modified cow in the world. Further on is nature theatre, with displays of all types of stuffed animals, including dinosaurs.
The other floors focus on specific topics and exhibitions, such as rocks and crystals, or the Earth. There are various interactive elements and games, in Dutch, English, German and French, which adds an interesting element to the museum.
Everything is very colourful which gave me the impression that the museum is aimed at young children.
