European Science Museums

Anyone who had to struggle through Physics, Chemistry and Biology classes in school might not put spending time in a science museum at the top of their list. But with the amazing array of science museums throughout Europe, you’d be missing out by skipping them. From sci-fi futuristic architecture in Valencia’s Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències to the arcane-bordering-on-macabre ancient cabinets in Leiden’s Museum Boerhaave, there’s a wide range of science museums, covering a wide range of interests. Here are some of the most interesting.

Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, Valencia, Spain

Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences is located in the dry riverbed of the River Turia, whose recent de-watering has given Valencia the opportunity to create a vast network of modern buildings and parks. The already classic museum, designed by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela, has been thrilling visitors with its exterior and interior since opening in 1998. Actually made up of many buildings, the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències features the 13,000 square metre eye-shaped L’Hemisfèric (featuring an Imax Cinema, Planetarium and Laserium), the 40,000 square metre El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe (an interactive museum resembling the skeleton of a whale) and L’Umbracle (a landscaped walk with lush gardens and an outdoor art gallery with work by Miquel from Navarre and Yoko Ono). There’s also L’Oceanogràfic, El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia and El Puente de l’Assut de l’Or, huge bridge spanning the former river. Nearby hotels provide excellent views of the complex.

Cité de l’espace, Toulouse, France

Going from the future to the world of outer space, we go to Toulouse and its famous Cité de l’espace. More of a theme park, the City of Space features many full-scale models, ranging from Ariane 5 to the Mir space station, to a collection of Soyuz modules. You can look to the stars in two planetariums, one with 140 seats and the other with 280, and the control room for the Ariane 5 lets you experience the thrill of a rocket launch. The Terradome presents the history of space in an exciting way, and there’s an IMAX screen showing Space Station 3D, which was filmed on board the International Space Station. There’s much more to see in this three and a half hectare park featuring 2,000 square metres of exhibition space, and there are plenty of great Toulouse hotels that put you close to the museum.

Science Museum, London, United Kingdom

From space to history, London’s Science Museum is part of the famous Museum Row, set in South Kensington, close to Hyde Park. Part of the National Museum of Science and Industry, the museum was founded in 1857 and features a mind-boggling 300,000 exhibits, enough to last the whole day. If you don’t have the whole day, you might want to skip ahead to such historically important exhibits as Stephenson’s Rocket, Puffing Billy (the oldest surviving steam locomotive), the first jet engine and a reconstruction of Francis Crick and James Watson’s model of DNA. You can also see the first prototype of the 10,000-year Clock of the Long Now, along with such modern interactive features as the IMAX 3D Cinema, which seems to be a staple of most science museums. If you’re traveling with kids, you might want to take advantage of ”Science Night,” an all-night extravaganza where up to 380 children, accompanied by adults, are invited to spend the night sleeping in the museum galleries amongst the exhibits. Otherwise you’ll have to settle for all the excellent, though less interesting, hotels in the area.

Museum Boerhaave, Leiden, the Netherlands

To delve back further into history, step right up folks, into the Museum Boerhaave. Though this natural history museum only dates back to 1907, the collection in the Museum Boerhaave stretches all the way back to the 1500s, when the Netherlands began several centuries as one of the planet’s leaders in the sciences. In addition to the world’s oldest herbarium, the Museum Boerhaave boasts Willem Blaeu’s giant 17th century quadrant, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek’s microscopes and the planetarium and telescope of the iconic Christiaan Huygens. You can step back to the 18th century in the cabinets of professors ‘s Gravesande and Van Musschenbroek, and there are also physiotherapeutic devices and the papier-mâché anatomical models from the 19th century. And don’t miss the Theatrum Anatomicum, a reproduction a 1596 anatomical theatre where corpses were dissected. If that’s not creepy enough for you, look up to the wall to see three ancient paintings, one of which shows a Prussian peasant from whom a 10 inch sword, swallowed in a drinking bout, has surgically been removed. Leiden also features many great hotels, both inside and outside the canals of the Old City.

Nikola Tesla Museum, Belgrade, Serbia

The scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla has developed quite the loyal following, and the Nikola Tesla Museum, set in the heart of Belgrade pays homage to the man and his work. Here in this 1927 villa, you’ll find over 160,000 original documents, over 2,000 books and journals and, more interestingly, over 1,200 historical technical exhibits. In 2006, in honor of Tesla’s 150th birthday, the museum started an exhibition called “Tesla’s everyday life” which features a collection of textiles and other objects that he used in his everyday life. There are also over 1,500 photos, over 1,000 drawings and plans and many models of Tesla’s inventions. The museum’s archive was inscribed on UNESCO’s 2003 Memory of the World Programme Register for its role in the history of electrification of the world. Due to its central location, the museum is surrounded by many of the best of the city’s hotels.