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National Museum of Antiquities

National Museum of Antiquities Leiden, Netherlands

National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden
Image credit: Holly Hayes

Overview
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No visit to Leiden is complete without a stop in the magnificent National Museum of Antiquities (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden), the most comprehensive museum of its kind in the Netherlands.

History
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The Museum of Antiquities opened in 1818, and over the years it has acquired an impressive collection of Egyptian, Near East, Greek, and Roman artifacts. It's still a center for archaeological research, and museum staff travel regularly to Egypt to conduct further excavations.

Description
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The first exhibit one comes to is the magnificent Egyptian Temple of Taffeh from the 1st century AD, a gift from Egypt and the museum's pride and glory. The temple is in the lobby so that it can be seen for free by all visitors - this was a condition of the gift. You can enter the small temple, where there is a Greek inscription and a cross carved in the wall, showing later Christian use.

Greek and Roman sculpture are well represented and there are some beautiful examples of Greek decorated ceramics. The top floor provides an overview of the archaeological finds in the Netherlands from prehistoric times to the early Middle Ages.

Directions
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The Rijksmuseum is a 10-minute walk from Leiden Centraal Station (see map below). Parking is not available near the museum; the best option is to park at the Haagweg car park and catch a shuttle bus to the museum. There is one parking place in front of the museum for cars with an official handicapped parking license.