Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden, the Netherlands

August 15, 2017

Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden, the Netherlands

Museum Volkenkunde is a museum, which showcases the wonders of many different cultures and countries in the world. During the summer vacation, you can visit the Museum Volkenkunde every day of the week, while it is normally closed on Mondays like most museums in the Netherlands. Many objects have a description card in both Dutch and English, so tourists can fully enjoy the exhibits too. I used to take some courses at the Leiden university and I wish I knew this before, but students at the Leiden university get free entry to this museum.

Museum Volkenkunde Leiden the Netherlands totem pole

Summer activities and temporary exhibit

"Reis door de wereld in 80 minuten" (translated to English: Travel the world in 80 minutes). With a backpack filled with missions, you will go on expedition to explore many different cultures and countries in the museum. On the outside of the museum, you can play chess with giant chess pieces, play mikado (picking up scattered and piled up sticks game), or build world marks at the sand table. You can also find a cool expedition truck parked near the entrance, which is perfect as a prop for picture taking. Every Saturday and Sunday, there is a special guided tour (extra fee of €5 on top of museum ticket, starts at 11:00) and during the tour, the guide will made a Polaroid picture of you, which you can take home. The tour ends with some refreshments and the workshop of making Japanese, paper Koi carp or lucky stars. From 8 Juli - 27 August 2017.
In July and August, people who come with their children can get a MuseumDobbelspel (translated to English: MuseumDicegame) at the museum gift shop for free. With the dice and quiz booklet in your hands, you will get to know each other and the objects in the museum better.
Cool Japan. It is an exhibit about Japanese pop culture. I had visited this two weeks ago and it will be covered in a blog article soon. This is a temporary exhibit, from 14 April - 17 September 2017. It has extended to 29 October now.