Rijksmuseum van Oudheden

The Rijksmuseum van Oudheden ( German: National Museum of Antiquities ) is the national archaeological museum in the Netherlands. The museum is located in a historic building complex (including Begijnhof ) at the Rapenburg, the most famous canal in Leiden.

Creation and departments

King William I (Netherlands) founded the museum in 1818 and appointed Caspar Reuvens ( 1793-1835 ), the teaching at Leiden University 's first professor of archeology, to the director.

The museum collects archaeological artifacts such cultures that had significant influence on the development of the Western world, mainly these are the cultures around the Mediterranean. In addition, the collection includes the most important objects of the Dutch archeology from prehistory to the end of the Middle Ages.

The collection is divided into the following departments that reflect the structure of the permanent exhibition of the museum:

  • Ancient Egypt
  • Ancient Near East
  • Classical antiquity ancient Greece
  • Etruscan
  • Roman Empire
  • Prehistoric Netherlands
  • Roman Netherlands
  • Medieval Netherlands
Béguinage Gracht Etruscan civilization
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