Museum sights in Antwerp
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Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten
The Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten is a monumental neoclassical edifice built at the end of the 19th century. Its stately rooms house an impressive collection of paintings dating from the 14th century to contemporary times and includes works by Flemish masters.
The size of the museum's collection means that paintings are sometimes rotated. To find the highlights you'll need to pick up a museum plan and audio headset (both free) from reception.
The Flemish Primitives are represented by Jan Van Eyck, Hans Memling, Rogier Van der Weyden and Gerard David. Highlights include Van Eyck's unusual, almost monotone Saint Barbara (1437), Memling's rich Christ among Angels Sing…
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Mode Museum
Fashion followers must start with Antwerp's mode museum, MoMu. It's located in the much-celebrated ModeNatie complex, home also to both the Flanders Fashion Institute and the fashion department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Sticking firmly to avant-garde, MoMu changes its exhibits every six months.
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Museum aan de Stroom
The purpose-built multistorey Museum aan de Stroom is located between two docks - Bonapartedok and Willemdok - in the flourishing 't Eilandje district. Architecturally it's a big draw, designed like a modern spiral tower with a panorama platform offering city views. It brings together exhibits of the city's history from its earliest beginnings to recent times.
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Museum Plantin-Moretus
The World Heritage-listed Museum Plantin-Moretus is home to the world's first industrial printing works. This fascinating museum deals with a prosperous 16th- and 17th-century printing family headed by Christoffel Plantin. Plantin moved from France to Antwerp where he set up as a bookbinder in 1548. Eight years later he started a printing business that eventually became the Low Countries' largest printing and publishing concern and a magnet for intellectuals, scientists and humanists.
On Plantin's death, the business passed to his son-in-law, Jan Moretus, and later to Jan's son, Balthasar, a friend of Rubens.
Some of the family portraits exhibited inside this museum are …
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Nationaal Scheepvaartmuseum Steen
This engaging museum houses model ships, maritime maps and instruments in the gatehouse and front section (which is all that remains) of the 13th-century castle, Steen. Highlights include an intriguing nautical totem shaped like a snake's head and boats from around the world, including an 18th-century coracle or skin boat. Beneath the next-door raised promenade is the museum's open-air collection of river barges, canal boats and De Schelde P905, a 1950's Belgian navy patrol ship.
It's on the foreshore of the River Scheldt to the immediate west of the old centre, within the partly-restored confines of a castle called the Steen that dates from 1200 and is Antwerp's oldest …
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FotoMuseum
Five blocks south of MuHKA and with an excellent reputation is the newly renovated and expanded FotoMuseum. Once again housed in a renovated warehouse, this museum has a huge collection of B&W photographs, old portraits and ancient cameras. One of the highlights is the Keizerspanorama, a huge, motorised, slide-viewing contraption built in 1905 for Antwerp Zoo. In the evening you can take in a golden-oldie film in one of two auditoria. The kitchen of the stunning black-and-white café (also closed Mondays) stays open until 22:00.
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Diamantmuseum
The city's role as a world diamond centre can be explored at the Diamantmuseum. With an English-language audio guide in hand, start on the 3rd floor and let one of seven virtual guides assist in your quest for the perfect stone. The whole thing is very Antwerp - from the sultry fashions worn by the guides to the proud exhibits showing diamond-studded jeans. There's a special 'touch route' for visually impaired visitors.
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Museum Vleeshuis/Klank van de Stad
Due east of the Steen is the striking Vleeshuis, or Museum Vleeshuis/Klank van de Stad. This building, with its red-and-white layered stonework, was the 14th-century headquarters of the butchers' guild. It's now a new music museum, known as Klank van de Stad, home to instruments specifically related to Antwerp. Time a visit with a concert given on one of the old instruments - the tourist office has the schedule.
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Dagbladmuseum
Those really into printing should consider visiting the Dagbladmuseum. It was here that the world's first newspaper, Nieuwe Tydinghen, was invented by Abraham Verhoeven in 1606. The museum doesn't have standard opening hours, so call ahead.
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Red Star Line Museum
A museum in the pipeline for the 't Eilandje district is the Red Star Line Museum. It will tell the story of the three-million Europeans who immigrated via Antwerp to the US and Canada. Ask the tourist office for up-to-date details on both museums.
reviewed
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ModeNatie
Antwerp's mode museum, MoMu is located in the much-celebrated ModeNatie complex, home also to both the Flanders Fashion Institute and the fashion department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
reviewed
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Etnografisch Museum
Next to the stadhuis entrance, the Etnografisch Museum contains a highly respected collection of traditional artefacts from around the world.
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Mode Museum
Fashion followers must start with Antwerp's mode museum, MoMu. It's located in the much-celebrated ModeNatie complex, home also to both the Flanders Fashion Institute and the fashion department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Sticking firmly to avant-garde, MoMu changes its exhibits every six months.
reviewed
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Museum Vleeshuis/Klank van de Stad
Due east of the Steen is the striking Vleeshuis, or Museum Vleeshuis/Klank van de Stad. This building, with its red-and-white layered stonework, was the 14th-century headquarters of the butchers' guild. It's now a new music museum, known as Klank van de Stad, home to instruments specifically related to Antwerp. Time a visit with a concert given on one of the old instruments - the tourist office has the schedule.
reviewed
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Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten
The Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten is a monumental neoclassical edifice built at the end of the 19th century. Its stately rooms house an impressive collection of paintings dating from the 14th century to contemporary times and includes works by Flemish masters.
The size of the museum's collection means that paintings are sometimes rotated. To find the highlights you'll need to pick up a museum plan and audio headset (both free) from reception.
The Flemish Primitives are represented by Jan Van Eyck, Hans Memling, Rogier Van der Weyden and Gerard David. Highlights include Van Eyck's unusual, almost monotone Saint Barbara (1437), Memling's rich Christ among Angels Sing…
reviewed
