Natural History Museum, Leiden
| Nederlands Centrum voor Biodiversiteit Naturalis | |
.jpg)
Mammoth skeleton on display in the section
about prehistoric animals |
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 Location in South Holland in the Netherlands
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| Established | 9 August 1820 |
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| Location | Darwinweg 2 Leiden, Netherlands |
| Coordinates | 52°09′53″N 4°28′24″E / 52.16472°N 4.47333°ECoordinates: 52°09′53″N 4°28′24″E / 52.16472°N 4.47333°E |
| Type |
National museum Natural history museum Research center |
| Collections | zoology, botany, geology |
| Collection size | 37 million objects |
| Visitors | 339,550 (2015) |
| Director | Edwin van Huis |
| Curator | René Dekker |
| Public transit access | Leiden Centraal/LUMC |
| Website | www |
Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Dutch: Nederlands Centrum voor Biodiversiteit Naturalis) is a national museum of natural history and a research center on biodiversity in Leiden, Netherlands. Although its current name and organization is relatively recent, its history can be traced back to the early 1800s. Its collections contain approximately 37 million specimens, one of the largest natural history collections in the world. In late 2016 the center closed its main building for renovations, with plans to re-open in late 2018. Temporary exhibitions are open in the pesthuis entrance building during the renovations.
The beginnings of Naturalis go back to the creation of the National Museum of Natural History by King William I on August 9, 1820. In 1878, the geological and mineralogical collections of the museum separated into two institutions. These remained distinct until the merger of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (abbreviated RMNH) and the Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie (abbreviated RGM) in 1984, as the Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum (NNM) or National Museum of Natural History.
In 1986, it was determined that the institution should become a public museum, and a new building was designed by Fons Verheijen. The building's reception area incorporated the 1657-1661 Pesthuis, designed by Huybert Corneliszoon van Duyvenvlucht. Completed in 1998, it was opened on April 7, 1998 by Queen Beatrix. The new building cost about €60 million, making it the second most expensive museum building in the Netherlands.
As of 2010[update], the National Museum of Natural History (Naturalis) further combined with the Zoological Museum Amsterdam (ZMA) of the University of Amsterdam, and the Dutch 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 Ronald Plasterk and Gerda Verburg.
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