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Boerhaave Museum Top Collection: all rooms | |
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zaal 12: Verzamelen: pakhuizen voor de dierkunde |  |
| Click to view the first showcase |
In 1820 King William I founded the National Museum of Natural History in Leiden. Various existing collections of natural history specimens were combined in this museum: Those belonging to the University of Leiden, to the Dutch Stadholder Wiliam V of Orange and to King Louis Napoleon. A private collection from Amsterdam likewise came to Leiden in 1820 and its owner, Coenraad Jacob Temminck, also became the museum’s first Director. The new museum soon grew to be one of the world’s foremost zoological museums.
When the University of Leiden’s Zootomical Laboratory was opened in 1876, it was given a teaching collection consisting of suitable specimens from the National Museum of Natural History.
This teaching collection was subsequently expanded constantly with specimens that laboratory staff collected in the course of their research. A selection from this abundant collection of zoological specimens, which are, incidentally, very difficult to date, is exhibited in this room.