Relics at Art Zoo Museum: Baroque meets prehistoric fossils

Relics is when Art Zoo Museum goes the extra mile. Where you normally see mostly the permanent animal installations, fossils and other natural history objects now slide into the picture. The taxidermy artists Darwin, Sinke & Van Tongeren - co-founders of the museum - play the leading role here. They are known for their Baroque-inspired animal compositions, and in Relics they link them directly to primal material from prehistoric times.

The exhibition fills the historic rooms of the 17th-century Cromhout House. Under a monumental ceiling, ancient bones, skulls and other remains are combined with carefully prepared animals. No dry timeline, but a succession of scenes, as if walking through a living cabinet of curiosities. Instead of signs with dates, you mainly get a clash of forms, materials and looks: shiny horns next to porous fossil, a stuffed animal that almost seems to step off its pedestal, right across from a petrified predecessor.

Relics is also important as a new step in the museum's program. It is the first temporary exhibition since opening in 2025 and shows that there is more going on than just a permanent collection. The museum is co-designed with the Free Academy of Art and Culture, and you can sense that there is thought here about how to bring natural history and art together. Not with a textbook story, but by arranging a space in such a way that you keep looking.

Relics is also important as a new step in the museum's program.

If you already know the city from front to back, but haven't yet seen how Art Zoo Museum folds animal, fossil and history into one itinerary, Relics gives you a good excuse to take in another kind of museum experience.