Naturalis Biodiversity Center, the museum and research institute in Leiden, will be reopening on Monday, June 8. The museum will be open free of charge for the entire month of June to vital workers from the region.
Expressing gratitude
Expectations are that museums will be allowed to reopen in June. Naturalis would like to honor people who work in crucial sectors and critical processes, such as hospital staff (for example from next-door hospital LUMC), care home employees, police and ambulance staff. In order to express our gratitude, we would like to welcome them and their families free of charge in June.
COVID-19 measures
Naturalis is taking a cautious approach. All visitors must book a start time for their visit at tickets.naturalis.nl. This booking service will be in place in late May (the exact date will be posted on our website). We will begin with a restricted number of visitors, which will slowly build over the first few weeks. Of course, the safety of our visitors and employees comes first. The number of visitors will be gradually increased to a maximum of 1,000 daily in July. This is much lower than visitor numbers (up to 5,000 daily during weekends and vacations) prior to the emergency closure. In order to guarantee 1.5m distance and between visitors and to spread out visitor numbers, start times will be used, with a limited number of visitors allowed. There will also be a single one-way route through the museum, and a single entrance and single exit. Some rooms and parts of the museum will remain closed, since maintaining social distancing is not possible there. Plexiglass screens will be installed at various locations, as will hand disinfectant points. Naturalis will be offering an extra educational activity when it reopens, while the Naturalis app will have an important role to play during visits. This should all ensure that visitors are guaranteed a full museum experience.
Open to all starting July 1
From Wednesday, July 1 on, everyone will once again be welcome to visit Naturalis. The usual ticket prices will apply. It will remain necessary to book a ticket with start time to visit the museum. This booking service will be in place in late May (the exact date will be posted on our website) at tickets.naturalis.nl.
Note to editors
More information
For more information please get in touch with Corine van Impelen, Head of Communication at Naturalis Biodiversity Center, by email at corine.vanimpelen@naturalis.nl or by calling +31 (0)6 3511 2999.