Our collection

Open your window on the world

Each and every one of the objects in our collection tells a human story. Stories that embody universal themes such as celebration, mourning, decoration, prayer, love and conflict. Themes that all have one thing in common: they show that despite our differences we are all human.

The National Museum of World Cultures (NMVW) groups together Amsterdam’s Tropenmuseum, the Afrika Museum in Berg en Dal and the Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden. Since 2017 NMVW has been working closely together with Rotterdam’s Wereldmuseum. That’s why our collection site also features the collections of these other three museums alongside that of the Tropenmuseum. Taken together these collections comprise nearly 450,000 objects, 260,000 photographs and some 350,000 items of documentary film and video material.