The Museonder is a Dutch museum in the De Hoge Veluwe

National Park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

The museum focuses on the

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

of the Veluwe and calls itself the world's first fully underground museum. The name "Museonder" is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsDutch words for "museum" and "under", respectively "museum" and "onder".

History

The museum was opened in March 1993 by Prince Claus of the Netherlands. It was immediately praised for its modern approach to presenting information. Within six months it was reported that the number of visitors to the national park had risen by nearly half, largely due to the new museum. It was also made public that the museum suffered from

vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The term f ...

and needed to hire more guards and to repair parts of the exhibition. In 2008, the directorate of the national park announced renovations to the park, including the Museonder. The museum would host changing exhibitions, in addition to the permanent presentation.

Collection

The museum collection includes

skeletal A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

remains of

extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...

and

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

species that live and lived in the area. Examples of species on display are the woolly rhinoceros, the cave bear, the straight-tusked elephant and the aurochs. Other exhibited items are glacial erratics and the carefully excavated roots of a 135-year-old tree.

References

{{authority control Museums in Gelderland Natural history museums in the Netherlands