NEMO Science Museum rises above the Oosterdok on the curve of the IJtunnel. Renzo Piano’s copper-green building turns an engineering constraint into a public rooftop square; inside, hands-on science continues an institution’s long reinvention from a workers’ museum founded in 1923.
Quick facts
The Museum van den Arbeid, a predecessor of NEMO, was founded on 8 December 1923 after an exhibition of industrial artist Herman Heijenbrock’s work.
Renzo Piano designed NEMO above the IJtunnel; the tunnel’s curve helped shape the museum’s rising form.
The building opened as NewMetropolis in 1997 and was reorganized and relaunched as NEMO in 2000 after early financial difficulties.
Get directions to NEMO Science Museum. Confirm the visitor entrance and current access with the venue before travelling.
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Guide
NEMO Science Museum’s copper-green silhouette rises above Amsterdam’s Oosterdok like a ship. Underneath, Renzo Piano designed the building over the IJtunnel approach; the tunnel’s curve shaped its rising form. A piece of transport infrastructure became the reason this museum looks as if it is lifting itself out of the water.
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