On April 16, Rijksmuseum Boerhaave opens the BESMET! (INFECTED!) Exhibition on the outbreaks of infectious diseases and how they can disrupt life. Of course, the exhibition also deals with the recent outbreak of the corona virus and is in line with the social debate about the degree of vaccination.

“This exhibition has been planned for a while and is now even more actual than we could have imagined. Outbreaks of infectious diseases are of all times. With the exhibition and our stimulating peripheral program, we allow the widest possible audience to discover the importance of science for our lives today,” says museum director Amito Haarhuis.

This educational exhibition shows an intriguing balance between health and real risk and between social exclusion and empathy. How did we deal with epidemics such as plague and smallpox in the past? What insights do historical epidemics offer for the future? And what solutions does science offer?

The exhibition and the side program are made in collaboration with various experts from, among others, the RIVM and the LUMC.

Rijksmuseum Boerhaave
Lange St. Agnietenstraat 10
2301 EG Leiden The Netherlands