Museumkwartier
Old Masters, modern art, contemporary design and whale skeletons: the museums surrounding Museumpark offer something to suit everyone’s cultural preferences. Designed by famous architect Rem Koolhaas, the park holds many romantic nooks and lovely artworks. In summer, Museumpark frequently hosts small-scale festivals, street theatre, open-air cinema and markets. Rem Koolhaas also designed the Kunsthal, which is worth visiting for more than just the exceptional building. This institution – it’s not a museum in the strictest sense of the word – presents a full spectrum of culture, displaying old art, new art, design & photography, from elitist to popular. Museum Boijmans van Beuningen has an impressive collection of masterpieces from the Early Middle Ages to the 21st century. Het Nieuwe Instituut (The New Institute) focuses on architecture, fashion, design and e-culture.
Several striking white villas stand along Museumpark, in the style of the Nieuwe Bouwen modernist school of architecture. One of them houses the Chabot Museum, while another is the Sonneveld House museum home, showing how hypermodern living could be in the 1930s.
The Natuurhistorisch Museum is a hot tip for families with children. It has fossils, skeletons (including a huge whale), taxidermied animals, animals preserved in jars, and much more.
