The body scanner
Showing what lives on your skin, face and hands.
Nadine Ranger — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Eric de Redelijkheid — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Eric de Redelijkheid — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Eric de Redelijkheid — CC BY-SA 2.0
Micropia is the only museum in the world devoted to microorganisms: bacteria, fungi, algae and viruses, alive and shown under microscopes the visitor operates. It opened in 2014 and forms part of the ARTIS zoo complex. The idea the display is built on is simple and startling: microorganisms make up the overwhelming majority of life on earth, and you yourself carry more of them than you do human cells. The museum makes this tangible rather than merely stating it — dozens of microscopes show living samples moving in front of you, not photographs. Its best-known station is the body scanner: you stand in front of a machine that scans you and shows on screen an estimate of what lives on your skin, face and hands, and of what kind. Another shows what grows on everyday objects — a kitchen sponge, a phone, a door handle. Ideal for school-age children, and more absorbing for adults than they expect.
Showing what lives on your skin, face and hands.
What grows on a sponge, a phone, a door handle.
Plantage Kerklaan 38, 1018 Amsterdam
The Groote Museum at ARTISThe Groote Museum is an 1855 building inside the ARTIS zoo, built originally as 1 minute walk4.5
Dutch Resistance MuseumA museum about how the Dutch lived through the German occupation between 1940 an1 minute walk4.5
The Hollandsche Schouwburg MemorialThe Hollandsche Schouwburg was an ordinary theatre in the Jewish quarter until t1 minute walk4.6
The Auschwitz Monument, WertheimparkA memorial to the victims of Auschwitz in Wertheimpark, designed by the writer a3 minutes walk4.3
Hortus BotanicusThe Hortus Botanicus is among the world's oldest botanical gardens (1638) — Amst4 minutes walk4.4It suits roughly seven and upwards. The display works by interaction rather than reading: you operate the microscope yourself and see the organism move, so understanding comes from watching. The captions are in Dutch and English and their deeper scientific layer is optional. Below about seven a child will enjoy the movement and the images but miss the idea — in which case the neighbouring ARTIS zoo is the better use of the same day.