Exhibitions
Special Collections of Wageningen University & Research - Library organises exhibitions connecting science and heritage, on site and online.
CGN: 40 years of great value for food security, and for safeguarding biodiversity and our bio-cultural heritage
Exhibition at Forum – Library - Special Collections – from 3 to 28 October 2025
Forty years ago, the Centre for Genetic Resources, the Netherlands (CGN), was founded. To mark this milestone, Special Collections is organising a temporary exhibition highlighting CGN’s vital role in safeguarding our bio-cultural heritage.
CGN conserves genetic diversity in crops, farm animals, trees, and aquaculture. Through its fieldwork, breeding programmes and gene banks, CGN contributes to sustainable food systems and future forests by ensuring that rare and vulnerable species are preserved. CGN and the Special Collections of WRU Library share similar characteristics: both work with care, knowledge and dedication to safeguard collections that are unique and irreplaceable.
The exhibition "CGN: 40 years of great value for food security, and for safeguarding biodiversity and our bio-cultural heritage" features unique items from Special Collections that reflect and are rooted in CGN’s work and history. On display are books, drawings, school charts, nursery catalogues, and plaster models of historical crops, materials that reflect our academic heritage related to genetic diversity.
These treasures not only illustrate the historical richness of nature and natural resources but also ensure that this knowledge is not lost. They also provide valuable input for future research, including that carried out by CGN. By presenting CGN’s work alongside these materials, the exhibition highlights how conservation and preservation are essential for protecting our natural and cultural heritage.
Location & opening hours
You can visit the exhibition from 3 October 2025 to 28 October 2025. Special Collections is open Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 1 pm and is closed on national holidays. If you would like to visit the collection in the afternoon or with a group, please send an email to speccoll.library@wur.nl.
Address: Special Collections Reading Room, WUR Library, Wageningen University & Research Forum, Building 102, Droevendaalsesteeg 2, 6706 KN Wageningen. Please use the Library’s main entrance to the Library on the 2nd floor of the building.
Exhibitions@WUR Library
Go to Exhibitions@WUR Library to enjoy our latest online exhibition.
Fascinating Viruses: Prof. T.H.Thung, the first professor in Virology
In the form of a timeline, the online exhibition gives an overview of Professor Thung's scientific career and also highlights the history of virology research in the Netherlands and in Wageningen. You'll learn more on the research that led to the discovery of the tobacco mosaic disease virus and on Professor Quanjer's virus studies on potato plants..
Stories Plants Tell: Flora Batava 1800-1934
This online exhibition shows the original botanical drawings of the Flora Batava that were displayed at Special Collections from 17 May until 15 October 2023. It also includes the contributions from WUR authors to the reprint edition of the Flora Batava.
Dutch Landscape Designed: 1946-1954
This online exhibition is a spinoff of the exhibition Dutch Landscape Designed: 1946-1954, that was exhibited at Special Collections-WUR Library from 3 November 2022 until 14 April 2023. From 1946 to 1976, a small group of landscape designers created more than 450 landscape plans for the Netherlands. Together, these plans cover almost 70% of the Netherlands.
Chef's Special: A Taste of the Collections
‘Chef’s Special’ is an exhibition with highlights from the specialised and beautiful collection of Wageningen University & Research – Library. In this exhibition we’ll serve you ornithology, landscape architecture, farm animals, engineering and botanical art. And there is even an apple cookie recipe from 1752!
Art on Wageningen Campus
Wageningen University & Research has always been interested in and committed to the visual arts. Many of the works relate to one or more of the domains of WUR. When Wageningen University & Research developed a campus most artworks were moved to new locations on Wageningen Campus. Enjoy the exhibition Art on Wageningen Campus.
Previous exhibitions
A list with booklets of exhibitions from the Special Collections. The collections include: The art of plant pathology (2016); Horse power (2014/15); Fascinating plants, Dutch botanical art@ WUR Library (2015). All booklets can be downloaded for free.
WUR Image Collections
A large part of the rare and old publications of Special Collections is digitally available. Several collections can be found in the WUR Image Collections. Many images are available for non-commercial use and can be downloaded for free.
Have a look at these masterpieces:
Caricatures by Louis Raemaekers
Maria Sybilla Merian, Recueil de plantes des Indes
Videos
Hofstee's puzzle: a Socio-geographic Innovation from the 1950s
In the 1950s Professor E.W. Hofstee from the former department Sociology and Sociography developed a tool to create maps with statistical data of the Netherlands. You could consider this technique as a predecessor to today's GIS. The original puzzle frame and drawers with the puzzle pieces are still on display in the Leeuwenborch.
Maria Sibylla Merian
Maria Sibylla Merian was entomologist and botanical artist. She was the first to study South-American insects, as well as some amphibians and reptiles. Her book, published approx. 1700, became a great success. In the video curator Liesbeth Missel explains what makes this book so special and intriguing.