22-10-2009 om 23:08 by Sueli Brodin

Continium, Kerkrade

“What do you think Sacha, was this a man or a woman?” my husband asked our youngest daughter Sacha, 5, pointing at the skull of a homo sapiens.

“For sure, it was a woman,” she replied decidedly, “because girls always lose their two front lower teeth first.”



I offered my husband and children last week to check out Continium, the new “Discovery Centre” in Kerkrade, because I was curious to see what the museum, formerly known as Industrion, now looked like after last year’s renovation and also because I had read in the local newspaper Dagblad De Limburger that a special exhibition on evolution had recently opened, featuring many interesting looking stuffed animals, skulls and skeletons.



Instead of focusing primarily on technology and the history of local industries as previously, the museum has now decided to broaden its scope with science. Its new name Continium emphasizes the idea that visitors are invited not only to learn about past and present times, but also to reflect about the future of our planet and learn how we can start living in a more sustainable manner.



On the practical side, Continium is located next to the train station in Kerkrade with free parking space for visitors. The building is modern, clean, spacious, with an improved entrance area, clearly defined exhibition zones, a 3 D theatre, an experimental lab for children, a small cafeteria and an outdoor garden with various educational games.

Our visit began with the Time Warp. We were invited to take a seat on a round bench that started moving in a large circular room and a series of images were projected on the wall with some music but without any commentary. The rather fast and seemingly chaotic sequence of photographs, which told the history of the planet and mankind from the big bang until the 21st century, actually made me feel a bit dizzy. My son Tim, 10, simply stated that it was “oersaai” (terribly boring), making a pun on the word “oerknal” (big bang).

The rest of the museum amply made up for this disappointing start. The exhibition on Evolution showcased a variety of beautiful artefacts, such as stuffed animals, an aquarium, plants, ancient statues, human and animal skulls and bones. We could also watch a number of short films and try out some scientific tests on computer screens.



The most appealing section to me was the part that dealt with philosophical questions related to the meaning of evolution and the future of nature and the world as we know it: “How far can we go into the path of genetic research, manipulation and modification?”, “Are we a threat to ourselves and to the planet?”, “Are we changing the course of evolution by increasingly applying methods of artificial selection, as opposed to natural selection, in growing plants and breeding animals?”



A dominant feature in the “Experiment” and “Explore” zones of the permanent collection is the focus on active participation in the discovery process. Visitors are offered to take part in all sorts of entertaining scientific or technical experiments or to play interactive games on multi-media screens. Children are allowed and even encouraged to touch most objects on display. Background information and explanations are given either on panels hanging on the walls or through short video clips, both in Dutch and in German - but not in English, although the woman at the ticket desk told me that this is being considered for the future.



The film at the 3 D theatre that day was a gripping animation called “Giants of Patagonia” about dinosaurs, which could be seen at different hours either in Dutch or in German. My children were very enthusiastic about it, but my husband noted that the Dutch commentary erroneously said that the dinosaurs had been wiped out after “a comet” hit the earth. The mistake escaped me… I guess it must have happened when a gigantic stegosaurus, looking very much alive, decided to move so threateningly close to me, at breathing distance so to speak, that I had to recoil in my chair.



We spent five hours at the museum and didn’t see the time pass. We didn’t even have time to visit the Future Forum Theatre (a platform to exchange ideas about how we think the world might look like in the future) or to play outdoors in the discovery garden, which, to put it mildly, my daughter Naomi, 8, was not in the least amused about.

She only calmed down and started smiling again when we promised her to come back again, “as soon as possible.”

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