Wereldmuseum

After several renovations, the former Ethnological Museum opened its doors under the new name Wereldmuseum.

The building dates from 1851 and was built to house the Royal Dutch Sailing Club. High society meetings and parties were held in the building. Members of this association donated maritime objects and ethnographic pieces, and in 1873 the Prince Hendrik Maritime Museum was founded.

Later, in 1883, the municipality decided to establish an ethnographic museum, given the Netherlands’ extensive foreign relations due to colonialism, trade with distant countries, and missionary activity. The Wereldmuseum opened in 1885.

Elie van Rijckevorsel was one of the founders of the Wereldmuseum, donating more than 900 objects that he accumulated during his many travels around the world. He was a physicist, meteorologist, explorer, millionaire and collector. He was also the founder of the Erasmus Foundation Rotterdam in 1911, “to promote education, arts and sciences in Rotterdam”.

The Wereldmuseum has a collection of more than 80,000 objects collected by the inhabitants of Rotterdam and from all over the world. This museum brings together different cultural aspects of small communities from 125 countries, focusing on their traditions. It tries to bring together objects from the everyday life of the cultures of the city’s inhabitants. Rotterdam has inhabitants of 170 different nationalities.

The museum aims to be a virtual journey through the cultures of the world. In addition to temporary exhibitions, the museum also has a permanent exhibition. They always deal with interesting topics for the youngest members of the family.

The museum is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10.00 to 17.00.

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