Fauna Japonica

Siebold's 'Fauna Japonica' - family exhibition to mark the museum's 30th anniversary.

Alongside the "Flora Japonica" (Flora of Japan) and the historical/geographical work "Nippon", the "Fauna Japonica" (Fauna of Japan) is the third monumental illustrated large-scale project that the Japan researcher Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866) realised on the basis of the objects he collected between 1823 and 1829. The large-format, predominantly hand-coloured lithographs were published between 1833 and 1850 in five volumes of plates and include reptiles, crustaceans, fish, birds and mammals.

Although Japanese originals and original specimens from Leiden were not available for the exhibition, the colour plates, animal specimens, paintings, contemporary illustrations and everyday objects from the collections of public and private lenders on display provide exciting insights for the whole family: they show the history of the creation and the afterlife of this zoological milestone for Japanese natural history. In addition to special guided tours, there is also a series of lectures accompanying the exhibition in which experts explain selected aspects in a generally understandable way.

Last edited on 10.10.2025