Guided tours

A tour wholly dedicated to the development of the human body – from embryo to adult – and to the congenital defects that can occur along the way. The tour will focus extensively on the normal development of the embryo and foetus, the development of the brain, skeleton, skull and teeth, and the most important congenital defects, such as conjoined twins, brain defects, spina bifida, cyclopia, achondroplasia, skull defects, umbilical hernias and sirenomelia.

A tour that mainly addresses the history of the collection and its origin. It highlights, amongst other things, diseases and conditions that were common during the eighteenth and nineteenth century, such as syphilis, rickets and bladder stones, the eighteenth-century bone cabinet of Dr Jacob Hovius, tattoos of the French period (1794-1815) and livers that show damage due to tight-lacing corsets. The last highlight on this tour is the extensive private collection of Gerard and Willem Vrolik dating from the nineteenth century, which includes a large number of animal specimens. These include the lion of king Louis Napoleon, the heart of a python and the eye of a whale. As part of the collection was amassed during the colonial age, the colonial context will be covered as well.

It is also possible to book a custom tour, adapted entirely to your needs. The tour could, for example, focus on topics that closely match the specific interest of the group or that are relevant to the educational subject. It could be a tour that is mainly centred around a topic, point of view or discipline of your choosing. For example, a focus on the brain and nervous system, or the anatomy of animals. Please indicate your preference on the request form at the bottom of this page.