National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden
No visit to Leiden is complete without seeing the National Museum of Antiquities (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden), the most comprehensive of its kind in the Netherlands.
The Museum of Antiquities opened in 1818, and over the years it has acquired an impressive collection of Egyptian, Near East, Greek, and Roman artifacts. It's still a center for archaeological research, and museum staff travel regularly to Egypt to conduct further excavations.
The first exhibit visitors see is the magnificent Egyptian Temple of Taffeh from the 1st century AD, a gift from Egypt and the museum's pride and glory. The temple is in the lobby so that it can be seen for free by all visitors — this was a condition of the gift. You can enter the small temple, where there is a Greek inscription and a cross carved in the wall, showing later Christian use.
Greek and Roman sculpture are well represented and there are some beautiful examples of Greek decorated ceramics.
The top floor provides an overview of the archaeological finds in the Netherlands from prehistoric times to the early Middle Ages.
| Names: | Rijksmuseum van Oudheden; National Museum of Antiquities |
| Type of site: | Museum of religious interest |
| Address: | Rapenburg 28, Leiden, South Holland, The Netherlands |
| Phone: | 071/516-3163 |
| Website: | http://www.rmo.nl/ |
| Hours: | Tues-Fri 10am-5pm; Sat-Sun and holidays (also Easter Monday and Pentecost Monday) noon-5pm. Closed Jan 1, Oct 3, Dec 25. |
| Cost: | 6€ adults, 5.50€ children 6-18, free for children under 6 |
Sources
- Personal visit (November 2006; lobby only)
- Rijksmuseum van Oudheden - Official Website
