National Museum of Ethnology (Netherlands)
The National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden
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| Established | 1837 |
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| Location | Leiden, Netherlands |
| Coordinates | 52°09′47″N 4°28′57″E / 52.163056°N 4.4825°E |
| Visitors | 76,315 (2008) |
| Director | Steven Engelsman |
| Website | http://volkenkunde.nl/ |
The National Museum of Ethnology (Dutch: Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde or RMV) is a museum about ethnology in the Netherlands is located in the university city of Leiden.
The institution which was at first called the "Museum Japonicum". It was the first museum in Europe which was designed to demonstrate that collecting the artefacts of man could mean more than the mere accumulation of curiosities. From the very outset, this innovative institution incorporated at least four basic principles: collecting, scientific research, presentation to the public, and educational guidance.
In 1816 the Koninklijk Kabinet van Zeldzaamheden was formed in the Hague as an attempt to start a museum of scientific artifacts from around the world, based on royal collections and a large group of Chinese artifacts from private collections. Thanks to the early efforts of this organization, in the early 1830s, when Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold abandoned the political turmoil of revolutionary Belgium for the relative calm of the University of Leiden, he was inspired by the first museum director R.P. van de Kasteele to collect Japanese objects for his collection. The resulting gift of about 5,000 objects became the heart the new museum's holdings. Siebold's home in Leiden—and the objects he brought to Europe after eight years in Japan—was opened to the public in the early 1830s (today his collection is preserved in the SieboldHuis). The Dutch crown had previously purchased the smaller collections of Jan Cock Blomhoff in 1826 and Johannes Gerhard Frederik van Overmeer Fischer in 1832. These which were merged with what Siebold bestowed on King William I; and they became crucial elements in the creation of what became the Museum voor Volkenkunde, or Ethnographic Museum in Leiden in 1837. This institution would later evolve into the National Museum of Ethnology.
In 1843, Siebold also encouraged other Europeans to create ethnographic institutions similar to what was developing in Leiden. He urged "the importance of their creation in European states possessing colonies because these institutions could become a means for understanding the subject peoples and of awakening the interest of the public and of merchants -- all of which are necessary conditions for a lucrative trade which benefits all."
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