Naturalis Biodiversity Center

Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Nederlands Centrum voor Biodiversiteit Naturalis
Location within South Holland
Location within Netherlands
Established9 August 1820; 206 years ago (1820-08-09)
LocationDarwinweg 2
Leiden, Netherlands
Coordinates52°09′53″N 4°28′24″E / 52.16472°N 4.47333°E / 52.16472; 4.47333
TypeNational museum
Natural history museum
Research center
Collections
Zoology, botany, geology
Collection size
43 million objects
Visitors440 thousand (2022)
DirectorMarcel Beukeboom
Public transit access
Leiden Centraal/LUMC
ParkingOn site (paid)
Websitewww.naturalis.nl

Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Dutch: Nederlands Centrum voor Biodiversiteit Naturalis, Naturalis for short) is a national museum of natural history and a research center on biodiversity in Leiden, Netherlands. It was named the European Museum of the Year 2021. Although its current name and organization are relatively recent, the history of Naturalis can be traced back to the early 1800s. Its collection includes approximately 42 million specimens, making it one of the largest natural history collections in the world.

The stuffing of animals for private and scientific purposes (1978)

History

The beginnings of Naturalis go back to the creation of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (abbr. RMNH, 'National Museum of Natural History') by royal decree on 9 August 1820. In 1878, the geological and mineralogical collections of the museum were split off into a separate museum, remaining distinct until the merger of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie with the Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie (abbr. RGM) in 1984, to form the Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum (NNM) or National Museum of Natural History.

Former entry through the Pesthuis
Former entry through the Pesthuis

In 1986, it was decided that the institution should become a public museum. A new building was designed by the Dutch architect Fons Verheijen. The building's reception area incorporated the 1657–1661 Pesthuis (historical plague hospital), designed by Huybert Corneliszoon van Duyvenvlucht. Completed in 1998, it was opened on 7 April 1998, by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. The new building costs were about €60 million, making it the second most expensive museum building in the Netherlands.[citation needed]

In 2010 the National Museum of Natural History (Naturalis) further combined with the Zoological Museum Amsterdam (ZMA) of the University of Amsterdam, and the National Herbaria at the universities of Leiden, Amsterdam, and Wageningen, to form the Nederlands Centrum voor Biodiversiteit (NCB Naturalis). The combined institute was formally opened as part of the 'International Year of Biodiversity 2010' by Education Minister Ronald Plasterk and Agriculture Minister Gerda Verburg.

In 2012 the name became the Naturalis Biodiversity Center. Naturalis has partnered with ETI Bioinformatics in support of the Catalog of Life (CoL), and is working with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Funding is in place to support digitization of the massed collections.

In 2015, further renovation and expansion was planned, with a proposed design from Neutelings Riedijk Architecten. The Pesthuis will no longer be part of the complex. However, a lawsuit by the previous architect postponed these plans. The museum, except the research facilities, was closed from September 2018 to mid 2019 due to renovations. Temporary exhibitions were held in the Pesthuis, the former entrance building, during the renovations. The new building was finished in the summer of 2019 with the museum opening again on 31 August of that year.

Within a year of the opening the museum had to close again in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic until June 2020. The museum reopened on 8 June with free entrance for essential workers. On 1 July the museum was reopened for the public charging full prices again. It closed again in the winters of 2020 and 2021 due to further national COVID-19 measures.

Naturalis was named the European Museum of the Year 2021 in the annual awards of the European Museum Forum. The jury cited Naturalis as "a very inventive museum with beautiful exhibitions", and also the museum's "agile ability" to move on and transform itself.

Collection

Trix, the Tyrannosaurus skeleton, has been part of the permanent collection since the reopening

The current museum is known for the numerous objects in its collections. Prior to the merger with the Zoölogisch Museum Amsterdam and National Herbarium of the Netherlands, there were approximately 10 million zoological and geological specimens in the Naturalis collection. Following the merger with the collections of the Zoölogisch Museum Amsterdam and National Herbarium of the Netherlands in 2010–12, there are now approximately 42 million specimens:

Former display of rocks and minerals
Former display of rocks and minerals

The largest part of the collections are stored in a 60-meter-high tower, a landmark in Leiden, opened in April 1998. Some parts of the collections are stored in a depot in the former museum building at the Raamsteeg in the city center of Leiden.

The Index Herbariorum code assigned to Naturalis is L and it is used when citing housed herbarium specimens.

Explorers

Among the collections at Naturalis are the papers and field notes of a number of early travelers and naturalists, including the following:

Exhibitions

Permanent exhibitions

The museum has several permanent exhibitions:

  • Live Science (a highly interactive gallery dedicated to displaying the institute's function as science center and collection depot to the public)
  • Life (provides a tour along multiple biotopes, from the deep sea to the sky, showing mounted specimens and replica's of the highlights of the Earth's present fauna)
  • Earth (exhibits the way human culture is entangled with system earth. Artefacts and minerals from four regions with high geological activity, Hawaii, Japan, Brazil, and Iceland, are displayed surrounded by a panorama that combines the environment of these regions)
  • Dinosaur Era (Exhibits a selection of fossils from the Palaeozoic and mainly the Mesozoic period with a focus on dinosaurs. The highlight of the gallery is Trix which is one of the most complete and best preserved Tyrannosaurus skeletons found so far. On top of that, Trix is one of the two only authentic tyrannosaurs that are permanently kept in Europe. The other one is Tristan, which belongs to a Danish proprietor albeit being currently on exhibit at the Natural History Museum, Berlin, in Germany.)
  • Rexperience (an immersive experience where visitors travel back to the time T. rex Trix roamed the Earth)
  • Ice Age (dedicated to the Netherlands during the last ice age, a large scale model showcases the Dutch landscape and its fauna of that time, a large collection of Dutch Pleistocene fossils is exhibited as well as full skeletons of mammals from that time, including a woolly mammoth)
  • Early Humans (a homage to Dutch scientist Eugène Dubois and his discovery of the Java Man (Homo erectus) which are kept at Naturalis. The holotype Trinil 2 is on display here.)
  • Evolution (a gallery dedicated to evolution: the process by which species emerge and adapt)
  • Seduction (showcases procreation in Nature, it illustrates the rituals of courting, coupling, and raising offspring in a playful way)
  • Death (a gallery dedicated to circle of life)

Temporary exhibitions

During the renovation of the main building the former entrance building, the historic Pesthuis, was used for three temporary exhibits from 2016 to 2018.

  • T-rex in Town (before Trix entered permanent exhibition at the Museum, the skeleton was exhibited at the Pesthuis from 10 September 2016 to 5 June 2017).
  • Op Expeditie met Naturalis (English: Expedition with Naturalis, a summer holiday program aimed to involve children with science and nature from 24 June to 10 September 2017)
  • GIF! (English: VENOM!, an exhibit with live animals, centred around the popular Dutch biologist and Naturalis researcher Freek Vonk, showing the different kinds of venom and poison in nature from 14 October 2017 to 2 September 2018)
  • Treasure Trove (In 2020, Naturalis celebrated its 200th anniversary. There were 25 masterpieces from the collection in this anniversary exhibition.)
  • Triceratops: The Herd (an exhibition on Triceratops, featuring an entire herd) 18 October 2024 – 31 August 2025

Virtual museum

During the COVID-19 pandemic the museum was made virtually accessible. The visitor can move freely through the exhibitions with information and short videos available in Dutch or English to add context to some of the museum's highlights.

Visitors

YearVisitorsYearVisitors
2008245,2752012251,500
2009266,0002013307,500 (est.)
2010270,0002014300,000 (est.)
2011273,0002015339,550

Naturalis had an estimated 285,000 visitors and was the 15th most visited museum of the Netherlands in 2013. The museum had a record number of 440,000 visitors in 2022

Research institute

Besides its role as a museum, Naturalis is also a scientific research institute collaborating with most Dutch universities. In 2012, around 200 researchers and some 200 guest researchers worked on topics such as biodiversity, botany, marine biology, or geology. Naturalis is a (co-) initiator of several citizen science projects. The staff also provide university education and develop complementary curricula and guest lectures.

In 2012–2016, in addition to the usual systematic work, the institute investigates the following themes: character evolution, interactions between species and dynamic biodiversity.

In ARISE, Naturalis is working on the largest research project in its history: an infrastructure to know and recognize all Dutch species.

Buildings

Exhibits

References

  1. 1 2 Getting there, Naturalis. Retrieved on 20 December 2014.
  2. 1 2 , Naturalis. Retrieved on 26 March 2022.
  3. ↑ 'Edwin van Huis vertrekt als directeur van Naturalis'. In: Leidsch Dagblad, 10 September 2025
  4. 1 2 "Leiden museum Naturalis is European museum of the year". Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  5. 1 2 "Naturalis Wins European Museum of the Year Award". 15 May 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  6. 1 2 "New logo: Naturalis". The Branding Source. 23 July 2012. Archived from the original on 23 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  7. 1 2 "Naturalis Biodiversity Center". INTK. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  8. ↑ Wood, Bernard; Henry, Amanda (2013). Wiley-Blackwell encyclopedia of human evolution. Oxford [etc.]: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9781444342475.
  9. ↑ "Profile – Naturalis – National Museum of Natural History". Saatchi Gallery. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 Oever, Jon Peter; Gofferje, Marc (20 July 2012). "'From Pilot to production': Large Scale Digitisation project at Naturalis Biodiversity Center". ZooKeys (209): 87–92. doi:10.3897/zookeys.209.3609. PMC 3406468. PMID 22859880. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  11. ↑ "Naturalis Biodiversity Center (NBC)". Synthesis. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  12. ↑ "Zoölogisch Museum, University of Amsterdam (ZMA)". Electronic inventory of European bird collections. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  13. ↑ "Minister Plasterk opens the Netherlands Center for Biodiversity". University of Amsterdam News. 9 February 2010. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  14. ↑ "The Netherlands starts the International Year of Biodiversity 2010 by launching new Biodiversity Center". Naturalis. 28 January 2010. Archived from the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  15. ↑ Naturalis Biodiversity Center; Smets, E (2014). Self-evaluation report – Research & Education 2009–2013 (PDF). Leiden, Netherlands: Naturalis Biodiversity Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  16. ↑ Heerlien, Maarten; Van Leusen, Joost; Schnörr, Stephanie; De Jong-Kole, Suzanne; Raes, Niels; Van Hulsen, Kirsten (25 February 2015). "The Natural History Production Line". Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage. 8 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1145/2644822. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  17. ↑ Kromhout, Astrid (2015). "The design for our new museum is ready". Naturalis. Archived from the original on 24 April 2015.
  18. ↑ "Groot deel Naturalis per 31 augustus dicht voor verbouwing" [Large section of Naturalis closed for renovations from August 31]. Unity NU.[permanent dead link]
  19. ↑ "Naturalis reopens: researchers in the museum". Leiden University. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  20. ↑ "Naturalis tot 1 juli gratis voor mensen in vitale beroepen". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). 8 June 2020. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  21. ↑ "Index Herbariorum". Steere Herbarium, New York Botanical Garden. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  22. ↑ "Permanent exhibitions". Naturalis. Archived from the original on 29 October 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  23. ↑ "Galleries | Naturalis". www.naturalis.nl. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  24. 1 2 "Trix the T Rex makes her mark on Leiden in new exhibition". DutchNews.nl. 9 September 2016.
  25. ↑ Pim Kaskes, 2016, Unearthing the background of the Naturalis Tyrannosaurus rex : taphonomy, stratigraphy and paleoenvironment, Master Thesis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  26. ↑ Tristan Otto, Natural History Museum, Berlin
  27. ↑ "Over 4,000 jam into Naturalis to see new T-Rex Trix". NL Times. 12 September 2016.
  28. ↑ "Eindelijk heeft Naturalis haar T.rex" [Naturalis finally has her T.rex]. Trouw. 26 August 2016.
  29. ↑ "T. rex in Town – Naturalis". Naturalis Biodiversity Center.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  30. ↑ "Op expeditie met Naturalis – Tentoonstelling – Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Leiden) – WhichMuseum". whichmuseum.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  31. ↑ Tentoonstelling GIF! bij Naturalis, archived from the original on 21 December 2021, retrieved 13 April 2021
  32. ↑ "GIF! in Naturalis – Gemist? – Bekijk het op MuseumTV". MuseumTV (in Netherlands Dutch). Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  33. ↑ "Twee eeuwen onschatbare waarde in Naturalis: van quagga tot Darwinvink – Museumkijker.nl". www.museumkijker.nl. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
  34. ↑ "Triceratops: de kudde van Naturalis | Naturalis". www.naturalis.nl. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
  35. 1 2 3 4 5 (in Dutch) Top 55 Museumbezoek 2012 Archived 21 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Nederlandse Museumvereniging. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  36. ↑ (in Dutch) Chris de Waard, "Naturalis trekt recordaantal bezoekers", Sleutelstad.nl, 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  37. ↑ (in Dutch) Bart Dirks, "Leidse musea tijdelijk dicht: even geen publiekstrekkers", de Volkskrant, 2015. Retrieved on 2 June 2016.
  38. ↑ (in Dutch) Maaike Lek, "Naturalis ontvangt voor derde jaar op rij recordaantal bezoekers", Sleutelstad.nl, 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  39. ↑ (in Dutch) Daan van Lent & Pieter van Os, "Musea doen het goed: aantal bezoekers in 2013 fors gestegen", NRC Handelsblad, 2013. Retrieved on 20 December 2014.
  40. ↑ (in Dutch) Opnieuw bezoekersrecord voor Naturalis Retrieved on 7 March 2024.
  41. ↑ "Onderzoeksgroepen en afdelingen | Naturalis". www.naturalis.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  42. ↑ "Help mee met onderzoek naar paardenbloemen". Natuurmonumenten (in Dutch). 11 June 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  43. ↑ "Naturalis en Staatsbosbeheer werken samen aan kennis over biodiversiteit". Staatsbosbeheer (in Netherlands Dutch). Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  44. ↑ "Planten en waterdiertjes tellen voor citizen science". Universiteit Leiden (in Dutch). Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  45. ↑ RadioGuys.nl. "Naturalis brengt Nederlandse biodiversiteit in kaart met megaproject ARISE". Sleutelstad. Retrieved 8 June 2022.