Amsterdam Zoo and Nature Museums

Amsterdam is the city, where people live along water with 130 thousands big trees adorning streets and canal banks. The city where wild birds as swans, herons and sea gulls may by seen around everyday, just along the street rush. Nature is omnipresent in Amsterdam. Its zoological garden called Artis Royal Zoo, is small and old fashioned, but because of its size it is also pleasant to visit. Amsterdam has also a beautiful old botanical garden called in Latin Hortus Botanicus. Always quiet, it will give a moment of respite, especially during the summer. Three small museums complete the theme: Cat Cabinet is more of an art collection, but with only one feline subject, Museum Vrolik is a 19th C. collection of abnormal human embryos and whilst medically important, it may not be recommended to a wider public and finally Tulip Museum is a tiny historical exhibit, combined with an attractive shop of flower bulbs.

Artis ZOO
Right in the center of Amsterdam, you can also find the oldest Zoo of Holland. It consists of four main areas: Zoo, Planetarium, Botanical Gardens and Zoological museum. In the zoo itself you will find animals from all over the world. In addition, a unique canal aquarium shows you which animals roam the canals of Amsterdam. The planetarium offers children a trip trough the universe. In the peaceful gardens, you can find many old trees and statues of contemporary artists and aswell as an impressive, tropical rainforest greenhouse.

Hortus Botanicus - the Botanical Garden
This oasis in the centre of the city has always been called the jewel in the crown of Amsterdam. It was established in 1638 as an herb garden for Amsterdam doctors and chemists and has since developed into a living museum with plants from all continents.
Location: Plantage Midddenlaan 2a
www.dehortus.nl

Amsterdam Tulip Museum
A friendly, small museum about the tulip - flower which is a symbol of the Netherlands, Amsterdam Tulip Museum is located just across the bridge from the Anne Frank House. You may see there interesting multimedia presentations about the history of tulip, its cultivation and the 17th century speculation with tulip bulbs – so called tulip mania. In the musum shop you may buy bulbs of rare tulips and many other decorative flowers. Location: Prinsengracht 112

De Kattenkabinet - The Cat Cabinet
A small private art museum, established by its founder William Meijer to memorize his cat. It may seem a joke, but the exhibited art works, all with obligatory cats as their subject, were chosen with a great care and are clearly out of the ordinary. Located in an old patrician canal house with a fully restored, richly decorated interior. Location: Herengracht 497

Museum Vrolik
A collection of abnormal embryos, skulls and bones, as well as other unusual anatomical human and zoological specimens. The museum has been made named after the collection founders - Gerardus Vrolik (1755-1859) and his son Willem Vrolik (1801-1863), both anatomy professors and scientific authorities in their times. The museum is now located in the modern Academic Medical Center hospital, out of the city center, in the South East, Amsterdam's new business and commerce area. Location: Meibergdreef 15 (Amsterdam Zuid Oost)

Tropenmuseum - Tropical Museum
One of the most intriguing Amsterdam's museums belongs to the Royal Institute for the Tropics, a foundation devoted to the study of the cultures of tropical areas around the world.
Location: Kattenburgerplein 1, quarter Plantage.

- Art Museums included in the Museum Card.
- Art Museums included in the I Amsterdam Card tourist card.