The best museums Netherlands

Gouda porcelain, heather, ivory or carved sea foam pipes, Asian opium pipes or American pipes, snuff boxes and cigar boxes. This small paradise for the tobacco collector is a real mine of 30,000 objects, where it would be a shame not to go for a walk. This atypical museum accepts different cards (museumkaart and Iamsterdam) which makes it easier for us to visit it even if it is just to pass by in a hurry.

This museum, the oldest in the Netherlands, is housed in a private mansion built by the Teyler family in 1780. Founded at the end of the 18th century and financed by Peter Teyler van der Hulst, a wealthy merchant from Haarlem, it was originally dedicated to science and technology. In addition to a science section and a natural history section, there is a superb collection of drawings, engravings and etchings. Nothing seems to have changed since its foundation, as the presentation mode seems so old-fashioned, which still contributes to its charm and changes us from all the museums that are too didactic.

We will therefore see the display cases of fossils, skulls and jaws of prehistoric animals still as impressive as ever, many scientific tools that seem archaic to us but which were no less witnesses, if not actors, of the advent of optics or electricity, devices that seem to have come straight out of the crazy imagination of some professor Sunflower. All this may remind you of the biology rooms of 19th century Parisian high schools where naturalist frescoes and various scientific objects give the courses a taste of erudition. Finally, a graphic collection, presented on a rotating basis, displays the drawings of Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael and Watteau. A wing, opened more recently, has temporary exhibitions. The programming is always very interesting and designed to interest, and even please children. A very pleasant visit.

In addition to temporary exhibitions, the Museon, the Museum of Science and Technology presents permanent exhibitions, including the one on the environment, Ecos. Despite a beautiful collection of objects, models, photos and video films, this popularization museum for young and old may nevertheless seem dull to regular visitors to La Cité des Sciences de La Villette. An interesting museum with more than 260,000 objects, including fossils and naturalized animals. The fauna and flora of the Netherlands and former colonies are also presented.