National Museum of Ethnology

Very interesting museum that provides a journey through different cultures of the world having list of unique items on show. My favorite section what’s Africa, very colourful and bright.

What a wonderful museum! We spend quite a few hours in the different rooms that bring you all around the world with items from every continent. I really enjoyed my stay there and found it absolutely not to be missed on my list.

The staff at the entrance was also very kind and welcoming when explaining the different areas. If you are visiting Leiden I wholeheartedly recommend it!

A fascinating collection of cultural artefacts from all over the world. Immerse yourself in this beautifully presented exhibition and you can spend half a day admiring the incredible variety of cultures and traditions past and present. The museum does not shy away from the negative impacts of colonialism on indigenous cultures and populations. Highly recommended

I absolutely love this place. It has so many interesting pieces from different cultures. There are also two areas for the kids to learn and play. The cafe offers delicious pastries. Definitely a must see if visiting Leiden.

One of, if not the best museum I have visited. It’s modest in size but thanks to its perfect layout you will never notice. We actually had to leave (after 3-3.5hours) due to their closing time without making it through all the rooms. In a few days we’ll definitely finish our tour!

Comprehensive floorplan, clear room divisions with each one containing a specific country or general area of the world, wide pathways, EXCELLENT (exhibition)pieces with informative written explanation that’s not too long and actually interesting. Lots of museums often fumble the ball on this aspect of the museum-experience somehow…

Some objects seem to be ‘missing’ - these empty spaces used to display artifacts obtained through colonial wars and oppression. The museum gave them back to the rightful owners and use (a few) vacant places to emphasize the importance of returning artifacts to their home countries and peoples.

LOTS of fun for kids as well with a numerous interactive ‘lessons’ on different animals, parts of the world and peoples. The educational activities and games are actually really fun to do - even for “older children” (29yo)

I spent >4 hours here and still missed a wing (the native American wing of all things...I
wanted to see some Tlingit art). If you're as into Asian art as I am, you could easily spend a whole day here. Very impressive collection for a very reasonable price (at least compared to some of the art museums I visited or attempted to visit in Amsterdam a day or two prior). The Indonesian collection is especially extensive (though perhaps that shouldn't be surprising given their history with the Dutch). The quality and quantity of works from Southeast Asia made me realize my history knowledge is severely lacking in that part of the world.
One word of caution: if the signage makes you think you're going to see Japanese woodblock prints, well, no, they have almost none of those. Most of their Japanese collection is comprised of daily use items like netsuke, woven bamboo works, inlaid furniture, etc. IMHO, the Korean section of the room was more informative despite occupying less space, but that might've been because I already knew quite a bit about Japan. Still worth seeing.

It has a very nice collection and information of the several peoples on the world's continents. Art, artifacts and photography that makes you want to know more. Every now and then they have very insightful expositions, one of the best was the one about the Aztecs, and recently one about the history of maps and their ideological influence. Very much worth a visit.

Used to love this museum as a kid and now uts even better. Could spend the whole day here learning about different cultures and far away nations. If you don't have the chance to travel but still want to learn about the world and its people come visit this museum. And I have to make a special mention of the big screens with the most beautiful photos projected on them, I almost felt guilty for not just sitting down and watch the whole sideshow.

I was here in December 2015 for the first time in my life, and was flabbergasted about the wealth of displays. Pity I ran out of power due to the fact I already had spent a lot of time in another museum, otherwise I could have published ten times as many pictures. Beautiful!

Incredible collections... Worth a visit..

Beautifully renovated museum. We had a great time. Kids friendly activities. Due to Covid online reservations needed. Not crowded. You will have seen most of the museum in 2,5 - 3 hours.

😍😍😍 wow this place is great!!! So much to do and see, I don't even know where to start. So many different cultures, so many artifacts. It was displayed in a perfectly classy way. They really did justice to those that owned the items so long ago. Can't wait for the next visit.

This is a great museum!
Great variety of history about numerous religions. Loads of items and information from Australia, Korea, China, Indonesia, America and other African/Asian countries. 10/10 will go again.

Excellent museum with a world trip.

Extensive collection of cultural artifacts from all over the world. It’s exiting to browse through the cultural history of a multitude of different ethnicities. The museum‘s café is spacious and comfortable as well.
Plan in more than 2 hours to have sufficient time to see everything. The guy at the ticket shelter was very helpful to explain all the different section and inform about the structure of the museum and how to navigate through it, overall a lovely stay

Very nice and modern museum based in an old building.
The collection was varied and very well presented.
The restrooms are plentiful and very clean.
The cafe is very nice and roomy and has a wide variety of food and drink.

Compared to the Tropical museum in Amsterdam, this is the better museum on Anthropology. It focuses on indigenous cultures of all parts of the world. The items shown have additional information on its use on touchscreens in various languages.

It is very kids friendly.

It is a great museum with selective items with unique social and historic value. You can easily spend 2 hours here to discover all the unique items in the collection.

Seems a bit small in the beginning but every piece is detailed and explanations are really interesting, definitely worth a visit

I often recommend this museum to people visiting Leiden. It has an impressive collection, professionally exhibited, and often special exhibits. The permanent exhibit is perhaps most impressive when it comes to the Indonesian region. There was a wonderful special exhibit on the Aztecs last year, which showed an amazing array of archaelogical exhibits and an in-depth portrayal of the culture as a whole. It was very impressive and aesthetically put together. The museum is always worth checking out, and if there is a special exhibit, all the more so.

A must for all who want to learn more about the history of the world. We as 'Western World' are far from being the first civalitation. There is a lot to be learned from the art of lost civalitations. Not only history, but also for creating new art.