When we visited Holland on our recent family holiday this year, my daughter and I made plans to visit the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden. My girls and I love a museum, so of course, it turned into a girly day, just me and my girl gang and it was so much fun. Exhausting! But lots of fun, nevertheless. From where we were staying in Duinrell, Leiden was a pretty straightforward location to get to. And even though there was a decent walk to the Naturalis Museum, the scenery made it enjoyable {as well as the sunshine!}.

The exterior of the Biodiversity center is a hard one to miss. It is a magnificent mismatch of exterior materials and textures. And it was truly beautiful to just look at, in my opinion. If it fascinated us from the outside, we could not wait until we got inside to see more.

The inside looked like a honeycomb and it was just wild to look at. The entrance hall for the biodiversity center was absolutely huge {nothing short of grand} and it was clear to see why this museum is ranked Number 1 in Europe. And we hadn’t even got to see anything, other than the interior yet! Naturalis has one of the biggest natural history collections in the world with a staggering 42 million different objects.

To the right of the above photo, you can see there is a gift shop. Which my girls and I did enjoy after we were done. The girls spent a small fortune buying themselves hoodies, plushes and such.

Live Science at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center

Our first stop {after being dazzled by the entrance hall!} was the live science area of the museum. And it WOW’d us from the doorway. We spent the longest time in this section because it had walls of floor-to-ceiling marvels. It has everything from mineral samples, taxidermied species, skeletal remains, and some seriously old crates containing rock, bone fragments and soil samples.

Above the doorway, you can meet Herman “the bull with the human gene”. Herman was the world’s first Transgenic {human to animal} animal who was modified to help create a future female offspring, whose milk would contain lactoferrin.

Lactoferrin is an iron-containing protein that is important for infant growth. And since cow’s milk doesn’t naturally contain this protein {which is essential to help fight infections}. Therefore having Herman, helped to create healthier and stronger cows, from his creation. It is all quite ingenious really and it was amazing to be able to see him in the flesh, so to speak. 

The downstairs section of the Live Science area of Naturalis was absolutely fascinating. With places to sit and just marvel at the specimens lining every wall of that room, it was breathtaking and honestly? Quite overwhelming.

Everywhere we looked we were gasping at each other {that included a dramatic point}. And in awe of whatever our eyes could feast on.

Hello Jurassic Park, is that you?

Upstairs, however, had a whole other level of joy for us because if you are a dinosaur fan {like us}, this is the place for you! When we walked up the stairs my jaw literally dropped. It was like a scene out of Jurassic park! Not to mention the Scientist in the lab was wearing a Jurassic park Staff t-shirt {which I instantly went onto Amazon to buy!}.

Before us was an array of none other, than Triceratops bones. And my eyes honestly could not take it all in, it was quite emotional. The three-horn has always been my favourite dinosaur. I was the kid, who with her paper job earnings, would buy the fortnightly Dinosaurs magazine from the 1990s! Yet, there we were, in the presence of what we later found out to be, a suspected herd of Triceratops! 

After speaking with one of the scientists, who swiftly made us reevaluate our own jobs through jealousy of his! Told us what they do there at the laboratory in Naturalis.

They have their own team of researchers and archaeologists out on the field, who were responsible for finding the suspected Triceratops herd, bar one. Apparently, one of the remains found was found deeper into the earth than the others. Dating back, wait for it, 50,000yrs! Absolutely fascinating stuff and we even got to hold a partial femur bone of a three-horn, too. What a privilege!

A New Display is coming!

At the lab itself, they have a collection of giant 3D printers and their job is to fill in the gaps of partial dinosaur bones. As well as cleaning them of any debris and soil. We were shown rib partial that had been found in the suspected Triceratops herd and how they recreated the parts that were missing.

The scientist told us that the suspected herd will be on show in late 2023 or early 2024. And you can guarantee we will be visiting again to see them on display for the world to see. And what a sight they will be!

The restaurant at Naturalis Biodiversity Center

During our afternoon at Naturalis and with so much to see, we needed to eat! There is a restaurant at the museum and quite reasonably priced. There is a minimal hot food selection to choose from as well as a selection of salads, pastries, buns and kids’ lunches to choose from.

The staff are super nice and helpful if you’re not too sure what something is! But everything tasted delicious and it was the perfect stop-off point, mid-way through our time at Naturalis.

Dinosaurs!

Now, I know I have already shared about the dinosaur remains in the Live science section of the museum. But this part of Naturalis, which is called the “Dinosaur Era”, we honestly were not prepared for. We walked around the corner and came into contact with a Camarasaurus, positioned up on its hind legs, standing over 9m tall. And I won’t lie, being the huge dinosaur fan that I am? I needed to walk backwards and take a minute because I was not ready. My eyes filled up and for a few brief moments, I found it hard to breathe. 

Seeing this Camarasaurus before me {and I know this may sound dorky to some} but honestly took my breath away. This common herbivore, found in the Jurassic period, stood, quite literally in front of us and it was nothing short of spectacular. Little did I know, the best was yet to come.

Meet Dirk, the Triceratops

Beyond the Camarasaurus I spied my favourite dinosaur, the Triceratops. This guy’s name is Dirk and he was absolutely stunning and in the most beautiful condition. He is a mixture of original bones found and reconstructed 3D prints.

For example, all 26 of his rib bones were too fragile to be mounted for display. Meaning, that all of Dirks’ ribs were 3D printed to complete his skeletal structure. He is around 67 million years old after all! But the work the scientists, palaeontologists and researchers do at Naturalis is unreal and a job to be very envious of.

I did appreciate that the bones that had been 3D printed, were painted a different colour so that visitors could tell the difference. Appreciate the craftsmanship that went into completely each skeleton and being able to see them in their full glory. 

This Dinosaur Era of the museum is nothing short of fascinating. With such an amazing collection of dinosaurs, rounding off at a 66 million year old remains of Trix, the T-rex. An actual T-rex! I could not believe my eyes. They are smaller than what I thought they would be, but still an incredible sight to see. The whole skeleton was a masterpiece to look at.

Seeing these in person was nothing short of an absolute privilege. And I know to some, that may sound incredibly lame. But being able to stand before something that stood and walked the planet some 65 million years ago, is something else. 

Seeing the exhibitions within the Naturalis Biodiversity Center was amazing. The room of every taxidermied species that you could think of, was before you. Wild cats, Giraffes, Gorillas, birds of all shapes and sizes and so much more was mesmerizing.

The baseline of this post is, I could honestly sit here and share photos with you all day. I took so many because the Naturalis Biodiversity Center is a must-visit attraction if you are ever in Holland and can make it to Leiden. 

We had the most amazing visit and quite frankly, 3hrs was not enough time. There is honestly so much to see, read up on, investigate and more. And I mean, the inside with that architecture is just so dreamy, can you imagine just chilling out there with a book? Because, I can.

If you are in Duinrell Holiday Park and wish to visit the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, then you can get the bus from just outside reception within the holiday park. They will you get to Leiden, but from there, you need to use your GPS, as it is about a 20 mins walk away from our bus stop. It is within the Leiden Bio Science Park. 

PIN IT FOR LATER!