Natural History Museum Tilburg’
The doors of the Natural History Museum Tilburg were opened in 1935. It was founded by the Municipality of Tilburg, together with the Koninklijke Nederlandsche Heidemaatschappij (now Arcadis). At the time, the museum was housed in the former residence of King Willem II, opposite the palace. An enthusiastic group of nature lovers from the KNNV (Royal Dutch Natural History Association) stood at the cradle of a beautiful collection. Those enthusiasts are still there, they help the museum to maintain the collection.
to the Spoorlaan
In those early years, the museum was run by a biology teacher from the Rijks-HBS, Dr. A. Liernur. In 1954 he was succeeded by Mr W. van Boextel. In those first decades, the museum has built up an enormous collection. This collection has always served the museum’s main objective: promoting the appreciation of nature, which later came to be called nature and environmental education.
The museum had a very difficult time in the early 1960s. It was almost cut down and the building had to be demolished for the construction of the Paleisring. At that time, the whole of Tilburg was overhauled for ‘modernization’. Collections and exhibitions were housed in an emergency building on Kloosterstraat, a former textile dyeing factory.
The museum survived all this, almost all schools in the city came with their classes. Van Boextel retired in 1976 and was succeeded by drs. A. van Berge Henegouwen. Under his leadership and that of his successor (1979), Dr. F. Ellenbroek, the museum has undergone enormous growth and professionalization. In 1985 the museum was able to move to its current location: the former Lower Technical School on Spoorlaan, now a national monument. In the 1990s, an environmental education center was added to the museum, which has since been fully integrated into the museum.
From a museum about nature to a museum about life
From 1993 the museum was called Noordbrabants Natuurmuseum and – for the sake of brevity – that was changed in 2003 to Natuurmuseum Brabant. The museum is supported by municipal, provincial and national subsidies and fulfills a pioneering role in Brabant, which was awarded the Brabantse Museum Medal in 2006.
In 2004, Natuurmuseum Brabant opened a new permanent exhibition according to a completely new, much broader concept: from a museum about nature, the museum changed into a museum about life. Since its foundation and up to the present day, the museum has focused on man: man as the manager of nature, man as a product of biological and cultural evolution.
In 2010 a new highlight was added to history: the OO – ZONE was opened, the Discovery and Research Domain for Nature. In this concept, visitors can take real materials from the display drawers from their examination tables with a scan card. It turned out to be a huge success. In 2011, the museum also received the adjacent building of the former Scryption on loan. Since then, the beautiful skeleton of a Sperm Whale can be admired and the museum has organized exhibitions there.
2017: BOS
The success of the OO zone was followed in 2016 by BOS, the same concept but for children aged 4-8 years. This hall also has a unique formula: the atmosphere changes with the season four times a year.
