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Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Photo: Museum Naturalis, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Naturalis (aka National Museum of Natural History) is a museum on the history of life and the natural planet. The museum has undergone large renovations and is now housed in stunning new architecture. The exhibition is organized in a number of themed rooms. On the ground floor, the LiveScience section is accessible at no charge and is the place where small lectures and show-and-tell events are hosted and where some of the research staff can be seen at work and interacted with. Higher floors include tour taken through the world's present biodiversity, where the visitor is guided from underwater to the land; a dinosaur exhibit including the spectacular T. Rex, Trix; a room about the Ice Ages in the Netherlands; a room about geology, volcanism, and seismic activity; a room with the first-ever discovered human ancestor: the Java man; and themed rooms about death and about attraction. The museum is in walking distance of the station and has fairly good parking.
Naturalis Biodiversity Center is a national museum of natural history and a research center on biodiversity in Leiden, Netherlands. It was named the European Museum of the Year 2021. Although its current name and organization are relatively recent, the history of Naturalis can be traced back to the early 1800s. Its collection includes approximately 42 million specimens, making it one of the largest natural history collections in the world.
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cinema Lido
Offers mostly regular Hollywood fare. The 1970s interior is in serious need of an upgrade.
National Museum of Ethnology
The museum shows the culture of native peoples around the world in a refreshingly open-minded way. Permanent exhibitions are grouped based on geographical regions. A good, well thought-out museum with lots of background information in its bookshop, extensive library, and computer screens that are strewn about the museum. Of special interest are the temporary exhibits.
The Western gate of the city.
This is a 1987 replica of windmill built in 1729 and demolished in 1817. The nearby Rembrandtbrug (Rembrandt Bridge) is also a 1983 replica of a 17th century bridge also demolished in 1817.
Latijnse school
The old gymnasium (1599).
The city carpenter's yard or construction yard (1612), built by Lieven de Key (c. 1560–1627). The former residence of the city's master carpenter, with a large stepped gable, is open to the public and is in use as an art gallery of a local visual artists collective.