The Tropical Museum (Tropenmuseum) is certainly one of the world’s most unusual museums, devoted entirely to life in tropical areas around the world. It reflects the intense interest the Dutch have had for years in Pacific, African and South American lands, and fittingly enough, one room in the museum is furnished with the desks, chairs and paintings of the famous, old Dutch East India Company, which colonized a large, part of the tropical world.
Other rooms in the massive three-story building-whose official name is The Royal Tropical Institute-are more exotically furnished with costumes and models, dwelling places and flora, spears, canoes and totems, priceless native jewelry, minerals and products, and brilliantly-designed display cases with buttons to push and levers to pull, setting off moving exhibits and lights that educate you in all aspects of tropical life.
The address is 2 Linnaeusstraat, the hours are from 10 to 5 on weekdays and Saturdays, from noon to 5 on Sundays, and the “Tropen” (its Dutch name) can be reached by tram no. 9 from the Centraal Station, by tram no. 10 from the Rijksmuseum, or by bus no. 11 from the Rembrandthuis or Waag. Sundays at 3 p.m., songs, dances and dramatic art of the tropics are presented here in free public performances. (Tel. +31 20-568-8215)
