A national monument
ARTIS-Groote Museum opened to members of the Natura Artis Magistra Zoological Society in 1855. The upper floor housed the museum, which consisted of display cases and cabinets filled with objects ranging from shells to skulls, and from specimens to skeletons. It was a place for exploring nature and sharing knowledge.
A natural history museum
For the founders of the Natura Artis Magistra Zoological Society, it was obvious that a museum should be established, as this would allow them to conduct research and at the same time impart knowledge about nature. They started to build a collection of dead animals in 1838, and soon included live animals as well. The live animals were accommodated in the continually expanding zoo, while a small building was constructed to house the dead animal specimens. The collection rapidly outgrew the space available in this precursor to the Groote Museum.
Amsterdam’s first museum building
The Society’s membership grew considerably, and a decision was made in 1850 to build a meeting place for the members. The idea gradually came about to organise the rooms on the upper floor as exhibition spaces, thus giving rise to the Main Building – today’s Groote Museum. The building was designed by architect and honorary Society member Jan van Maurik (1812-1893), and construction took place in several phases between 1850 and 1855. The result was the first museum building in Amsterdam.
Fully renovated
After its closure in 1947, the Main Building underwent extensive modifications, with its remarkable 19th-century museum interior of the upper rooms remaining largely intact. The Groote Museum stands on the very first piece of land belonging to ARTIS, and was one of the most modern buildings in Amsterdam at the time. This national monument has been completely renovated, restored and adapted to meet with current requirements. As a visitor, you can admire the impressive, original butterfly staircase and the display doors, and literally follow in the footsteps of the Society’s first members as you tread the wooden floors that have been in place since 1855. In other words, it is like stepping into a genuine time capsule.
A new view
The Society arose and flourished at a time in which people were pondering the relationship between humanity and other life, and in which colonial thinking categorised non-Western peoples under ‘nature’. Nature was considered to be something on display behind glass, while humans stood in front of it and viewed it. This was very much in line with the spirit of the times then; things are naturally viewed very differently nowadays.
The heritage-listed museum in Amsterdam reopened in 2022 and has been commended as the first museum to contribute to addressing the challenges of our time from the necessary new perspective that all life is equal.