Rijksmuseum Van Natuurlijke Historie
History
The location was originally a hofje called Hof van Zessen. In 1815 plans were made to build a museum there (the first building called a "museum" in Leiden). It opened in 1820, and until 1913, the museum normally opened to the public on Sundays. In 1913, the museum moved to a new building, with very little room available for exhibits, and in 1950, this room was also closed. After that, there were a few opportunities for guided tours, attending lectures, and temporary exhibitions.
In 1976, a paper, "Towards a New Museum", was produced. This led to the museum taking on more of a central curating role, lending pieces from its collection to other museums. The Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie and the Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie merged in 1984. A permanent public exhibition was still not present. That came in 1986, when the so-called "National Presentation" in the field of natural history was commissioned by the Dutch government. Planning began for a new building, which was completed in 1990 and launched in 1998 as "Naturalis".
Buildings and interior
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1820-1913: Building Papengracht/Rapenburg
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1913-1990: Building Doezastraat/corner Raamsteeg
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1913-1990: Raamsteeg side
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1913-1990: "Dry warehouse", near the Van der Werffpark
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Hall with two elephant skeletons
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Pesthuis Leiden
Former Directors
- Coenraad Jacob Temminck 1820 - 1858
- Hermann Schlegel 1858 - 1884
- Fredericus Anna Jentink 1884 - 1913
- Eduard Daniel van Oort 1913 - 1933
- Hilbrand Boschma 1933 - 1958
- Leo Brongersma 1958 - 1972
- Willem Vervoort 1972 - 1982
- Jacobus Theodorus Wiebes 1982 - 1989
- T. de Caluwé (?) 1989 - 1991
- W. van der Weiden 1991 - 2003
Contributing scientists
- Marinus Boeseman
- Heinrich Boie
- Johann Büttikofer
- Rudolf van Eecke
- Berend George Escher
- Matthijs Freudenthal
- Otto Finsch
- Agatha Gijzen
- Wilhem de Haan
- James Edmund Harting
- Koos den Hartog
- Jan Adrianus Herklots
- Lipke Holthuis
- Johan Coenraad van Hasselt
- George Junge
- Heinrich Kuhl
- Jacob van der Land
- Heinrich Christian Macklot
- Johannes Govertus de Man
- Karl Martin
- Gerlof Fokko Mees
- Salomon Müller
- Dirk Noordam
- Coenraad Ritsema
- Willem Roelofs
- Adolph Cornelis van Bruggen
- Jacobus van der Vecht
- Samuel Constantinus Snellen van Vollenhoven
- G. van der Zanden
Contributing artists
Contributing to collections
- Pieter Bleeker
- Eugène Dubois
- Curt Eisner
- Oliver Erichson Janson
- Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn
- Thure Kumlien
- Pierre Millière
- Hendrik Pel
- Walter Karl Johann Roepke
- Hermann von Rosenberg
- Gerard van Rossem
- Philipp Franz von Siebold
- Hermanus Gerardus Maria Teunissen
- François Le Vaillant
Varia
- Stephen Jay Gould depicts his visit to the Raamsteeg building in Dinosaur in a Haystack in his essay "Four Antelopes of the Apocalypse".
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