Get closer to black holes

At the Rijksmuseum Boerhaave in Leiden, discover the secrets of black holes, from the first pictures to the gravitational waves they create. In the autumn holidays, the museum organises a workshop in which children will craft their own black hole.

Everyone has heard of black holes and has an image of them. Black holes have been the inspiration for numerous stories, films and games. Research into them has been going on for decades and the first image of a black hole is still fresh in our minds. But what exactly are black holes? Are they dangerous? Is a black hole even a hole? And how can a hole cause gravitational waves, which we then want to measure with the Einstein Telescope?

The new exhibition Closer to the Black Hole at Rijksmuseum Boerhaave in Leiden (in English) guides you step by step through the fascinating subject of black holes.

For instance, lying under a large screen, you will experience what it is like to fall into a black hole. And on monitors, young researchers talk about their own work on the first black hole photograph. There are also animations, images and explanations about gravitational waves and about the first photo of a black hole, as well as unique historical pieces. Prints by Escher, for example, Escher’s first letter to Penrose, personal objects of black hole pioneer Stephen Hawking and even a pen used by Einstein.

Inspiration from artists

Curator and physicist Ad Maas of Rijksmuseum Boerhaave designed the black holes exhibition. There, visitors will find not only information about the science of black holes, but also artistic impressions. And those are important, Maas tells Radio Sleutelstad.

“Artists in the history of black holes have been very inspiring for scientists to get a grip on black holes. Physicist Roger Penrose, for example, benefited greatly from M.C. Escher’s engravings with strange perspectives, to get a grip on the chuckle effects of bent light around black holes.”

Autumn workshop: build your own black hole

Fancy wracking your brains under the gravity of black holes yourself? The exhibition Closer to the Black Hole will be on display until 5 January 2025.

In the 2024 autumn holidays, Boerhaave is organising an exciting workshop on black holes from 19 October to 3 November. In it, participants as young as four years old will build their own black hole and play with the theory that you can project the entire universe as a hologram onto the surface of black holes.

Dutch Black Hole Consortium

The exhibition Closer to the Black Hole was created at the initiative of the Dutch Black Hole Consortium, a broad coalition of research institutes in astronomy and space research within the framework of the Dutch National Science Agenda, together with physicists and also science museums such as Boerhaave.

The exhibition also focuses on gravitational waves and the Einstein Telescope, which may be sited in the border region of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Closer to the Black Hole, Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, Lange Sint Agnietenstraat 10, Leiden, the Netherlands. Included in the entrance fee for the whole museum.