Corpus is an interactive museum in Oegstgeest, a town directly bordering Leiden in the Netherlands, roughly 40 km southwest of Amsterdam. The building itself is the exhibit: a giant, 35-metre seated human figure attached to the museum, which visitors enter and travel through from the inside, moving through different organs and systems via escalators and walkways, guided by an included audio tour.
Getting There
By car, take the A44 motorway toward Leiden and use exit 8 (Oegstgeest); the museum has its own parking lot. By public transport, bus line 43 connects Leiden Central Station to the museum in about 20 minutes.
The Main Journey
Visitors enter on an escalator accompanied by the sound of a heartbeat and blood flow. The route passes through the bloodstream, where the body's repair systems are shown healing tissue in real time, and a reproduction zone visualising fertilisation. Further along, visitors walk beneath a 7-metre replica of the small intestine while learning how a simple sandwich gets digested, see how the liver and kidneys filter up to 200 litres of fluid a day, and pass through lungs compared in the exhibit to trees. One of the most memorable sections is the 'Heart Theatre' — a 3D effects room where visitors briefly become red blood cells, swept through the heart's chambers and the aorta.
Head, Senses and Brain
In the head section, oversized teeth and vocal cords are visible in the mouth and throat area. The nose and eyes let visitors look out at the world through the 'nostrils' or the 'retina' — in the eye, the image appears upside down, just as it does in actual human vision. The ear section shows the hammer and anvil bones in action. The route ends in the brain, among flickering neural connections and simulated electrical signals.
After the Main Tour
Once the guided body tour ends, visitors reach floors with interactive exhibits — games such as shooting bacteria in a giant virtual mouth, vision, hearing and reaction-speed tests, and anatomical models that can be touched and explored.
Booking Tips
Corpus runs on timed entry slots and tickets should be booked online in advance — turning up without a pre-booked ticket risks being turned away, since walk-in availability is limited. The standard ticket costs around €24 and includes the audio guide, which is essential for following the full experience.