Three Dutch ethnological museums are to merge into a single operation, to be known as the National Museum of World Cultures.

Amsterdam’s Tropenmusuem, the Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde in Leiden and the Afrika Museum in Berg en Dal will be run by a single administrative body but will retain all three distinct locations and approaches.

The Tropenmuseum (museum of the tropics) was threatened with closure because the government withdrew its funding. The museum’s extensive library has already been broken up.

Rotterdam’s Wereldmuseum is not part of the merger because it is funded by the city council.