Description of the attraction
One of the most interesting places in the city of Rotterdam, which is definitely worth a visit, is the famous World Museum, formerly known as the Museum of Geography and Ethnology. It is located almost in the very center of the city and is considered to be one of the best museums in the Netherlands.
The building that houses the museum was built in 1851 by the famous Dutch architect Abraham Godefroy for the Royal Yacht Club headed by Prince Heinrich and was inaugurated in 1852 in the presence of the current King of the Netherlands, William III. Over two decades, the yacht club has collected an impressive collection of artifacts brought by its members from different parts of the world, which led to the creation of an entertaining Maritime Museum here in 1973.
In 1879, after the death of Prince Henry, the luxurious mansion was transferred to the ownership of the city, and in 1883 the local authorities decided to open a city ethnographic museum in the former yacht club, the basis of the collection of which will be the collection of the Maritime Museum, created by Prince Henry. So in the building on the Willemskade there is a new Rotterdam museum, called the "Museum of Geography and Ethnology" (since 2010 - the World Museum). For the first time, the museum opened its doors to the general public in 1885.
Today, the World Museum of Rotterdam has more than 1,800 ethnographic exhibits - jewelry, clothing and hats, Javanese batik, interior items, weapons, statues and figurines of various deities and much more. Here you can get acquainted with different cultures of Asia, Africa, Oceania, North and South America and for an hour or two "make" a fascinating journey through time and space.
