Dedicated to the anthropology and ethnography of non-western cultures

The Tropenmuseum is a museum that tells stories about people from Africa to West and Southeast Asia, from New Guinea to Latin America. Visitors gain an impression of living traditions and the history of world cultures.

Building

The Tropenmuseum is housed in one of the most beautiful museum buildings in the Netherlands. Its construction took more than 10 years. The official opening was on 9 October 1926 by Queen Wilhelmina.

Collection

The museum's collections focus on the art, material culture, and daily life of people from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.

The museum's permanent collection includes over 450,000 objects and artifacts, which are organized into several thematic exhibitions.

Highlights of the collection include textiles, jewelry, musical instruments, masks, sculptures, photographs, and paintings from different parts of the world.

Changed orientation

The Tropenmuseum was founded in order to show Dutch overseas possessions, and the inhabitants of these foreign countries, such as Indonesia. In recent years it has undergone a number of changes in its orientation and working methods.

The museum has evolved in recent decades from a traditional ethnographic museum to an institution that is more oriented towards diversity, inclusiveness and anti-colonialism.

Instead of exhibiting objects as "exotic" curiosities, the Tropenmuseum now focuses more on telling stories about people and their cultures, and the way they develop and change in today's world.

Children's museum

Tropenmuseum Junior  is the children’s museum of the Tropenmuseum.

Tropenmuseum Junior is a real experience. All the senses are activated: seeing, touching, experiencing and participating.

Feel the atmosphere of the tropics and subtropics: wander through an Arabic shopping street, rest in one of the nomadic tents, or hear the thunder of the African savannah.

Location

Tropenmuseum is housed in an impressive building overlooking Amsterdam's Oosterpark. It is located in Amsterdam Oost, not far from Artis Zoo.