Natural History Museum Rotterdam

Natural History Museum Rotterdam

The Natural History Museum Rotterdam is a natural history museum located in Rotterdam, South Holland, the Netherlands, situated within Museum Park adjacent to the renowned Kunsthal art center.

Before the recent expansion, the museum was located in an old villa built in 1852, which not only required extensive restoration but also more space to accommodate large-scale exhibitions. The main two floors of the existing villa house exhibition spaces, along with a glass building constructed in 1995 that includes a large exhibition hall, a library, and several offices. The new section is connected to the old villa via four glass bridges, and visitor flow is organized along a single, continuous route to avoid backtracking. The new addition was intentionally designed in contrast to the old villa, embodying a “three-skin” concept: the glass facade wraps around a steel structure, acting as a skin over the inner concrete block that contains the newly built exhibition areas.

The museum’s collection mainly consists of various animal specimens, as well as plant and animal fossils, featuring a rich variety of items with remarkably lifelike displays. Highlights among the larger specimens include the skeleton of a sperm whale and the skeletal specimen of the Asian elephant “Ramon.”

Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam

Reason to visit: The most renowned natural history museum in the Netherlands

Continent: Europe【Europe】

Country/Region: Netherlands[Netherlands]

Province/State: South Holland [South Holland]

City: Rotterdam [Rotterdam]