Rijksmuseum Boerhaave

A very cool science history museum. Very well curated with intricate collections of both scientific and historical value, informative, thought provoking, and with some fun interactive mechanisms. We spent three hours there, only barely covered the second floor. It is open on Mondays which stands out as a great savior over regular museums😉.

I did not expect Rijksmuseum Boerhaave to be so incredible interesting, spent over 4 hours and still could not cover all. When in Leiden, visiting this museum is a no brainer, just do it, you will not be disappointed.

Great museum!! It is now two times that we have been there and it is always something that surprise us. Good for small children and also teenagers. They can be all day long having fun. With a museum card is ideal. Food have accessible prices.

This space museum is out of this world! Perfect for families, it’s packed with exciting exhibits that make you feel like you’re rocketing through the galaxy. The kids’ workshops are pure magic—hands-on, creative, and guaranteed to have them talking about planets and stars for days! And the staff? Absolutely stellar! They’re super friendly, full of cool space facts, and amazing with kids.You can tell they love what they do, and they make the whole experience unforgettable. If you’re looking for a fun, inspiring day trip, this museum is a must-visit!

Nice museum with old medical/scientific objects. Nice intro black hole presentation.

Very interesting science museum. Somenhands on experiment and puzzles fir kids and some very historical important objects.

Amazing science museum in the centre of Leiden. The exhibition takes you along different parts of the history of science. The museum starts with a nice show about the dissection of humans, followed by telescopes and maps of the world. There are also rooms about diseases and open questions in science. The temporary exhibition currently is about microorganisms and observing them with microscopes. There is also a great exhibition about math with many interactive games to play. The museum accepts the museumcard and is kids friendly. Parking close to the museum is not possible.

Excellent science museum done in a very visual and storytelling way. From the theatre at the beginning to the kids ground floor at the end it was all very interesting. I liked Boerhaave better than Memo in Amsterdam because Boerhaave is better structured and a bit more academic and not thrill seeking. Great museum to visit with kids.

Museum Boerhaave- originally a convent in central Leiden, established in 1931 as a science and medicine museum with an extensive collection of historical scientific instruments. Herman Boerhaave (1668-1738), a Dutch physician, botanist and humanist, for whom the museum is named after, was famous throughout Europe as a teacher of medicine and he is known to have taught Peter the Great, Voltaire, and Linnaeus. Of note, Boerhaave's main achievement was to demonstrate the relation of symptoms to lesions and was the first to isolate urea from urine. In 1724, he was the first to describe what is now known as Boerhaave Syndrome, for which Baron Jan von Wassenaer died from following a gluttonous feast and subsequent regurgitation.

One of the geekier options for fun in Leiden, the Boerhaave Museum is a fascinating stop for anyone who's interested in history, science, medicine, or any combination of those. It's a national museum, so it's been curated at a very high level. The space itself is in an old building, but one that's been renovated perfectly to show off the items and explain their context. The collection ranges from the 16th century to the present. Not being science-oriented myself, I'll say that the earliest items are the most accessible. The closer you get to the present, the more complicated and specialized everything becomes. Eventually, all the items look like interchangeable metal boxes. But that's just me. If you're at all knowledgeable, I'm sure they're more compelling. The first thing you encounter is a replica of the 17th-century anatomy theater. You can set in the seats and imagine what it would have been like to attend a dissection, at a time when very few people understood the human body at all. This showpiece is surrounded by skeletons (animal and human) and explained by a video. The early medical instruments were also cool (and creepy). Tracing the history of familiar instruments like microscopes and clocks is also interesting, and there are some hands-on displays that help you understand the scientific principles behind them. The natural history collections are amazing and daunting (like an 18th-century version of "Hoarders.") I wish there was an audio guide to help explain the significance of some of the more arcane exhibits. Apart from that, though, this museum is an intellectual treat of the first order.