Speed date with the Tropenmuseum? In the Our story expo you’ll get to know more about the colonial history of the museum, the world-famous collection and the architecture of the building.

The Tropenmuseum is on the move and changing, just like society. In the past it mainly had to propagate the colonial glory of the Netherlands. Nowadays the museum presents the historical collection from different perspectives, inviting reflection and social discussion.

Cross section of the collection

This exhibition shows you in a very approachable way the history of how the museum originated and developed. With the help of several objects, a model of the building and questions and answers, we relate the colonial origins of the Tropenmuseum and their meaning today.

150 years of museum history

We briefly take you through almost 150 years of museum history. A history that reflects the changing vision of the museum, the collection and the exhibitions in relation to the colonial past and today’s world.

This is a model of the Tropenmuseum and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT). Both originate from the Colonial Institute founded some 100 years ago. Small projections in the model relate the history of the institute and the colonial symbolism of the numerous art works in the building.

Traditional costume or fashion?

Museums still often present clothing as traditional costume or folk costume, which sounds established, unchanging. Conversely, ‘western’ clothing is seen as changing quickly and sensitive to trends, i.e. fashion. The Tropenmuseum now looks at its world-famous textile collection with different eyes. It’s a provoking question: when is something fashion?

Fashion is an accessible way of showing how globalization works, how cultures influence each other and how cultural appropriation works. The outfit of the popular Amsterdam label Daily Paper is, for example, clearly inspired by global streetwear and Arab shapes and texts.

Collecting worldwide

A dancer’s jewellery from Surinam, a netsuke from Japan, a Koran from Indonesia. The Tropenmuseum collects objects from all kinds of cultures from around the whole world. Why? Because such a collection introduces us to the versatility of mankind as a whole. Religion, daily life, crafts and art are important subjects.