Welcome in Museum Plantin-Moretus

This fall at the museum

Women’s business/Businesswomen

9 generations of stories in publishing house and home

Saturday 13 September 2025 until Sunday 11 January 2026 from 10:00 to 16:30

In the Plantin-Moretus family, women most definitely stood alongside their husbands, and not behind them. From the 13th of September onward, the museum will uncover 300 years of stories from women in this house. Stories that urgently need to be told. About daughters who corrected proofs from an early age. About maids and ladies. About women who not only climbed the social ladders, but made the ladders too. Men are also welcome.

What's on at the museum?

Welcome to Plantins house

In 1576, Plantin relocated his printing works to the Vrijdagmarkt. His family lived and worked there for three hundred years. They converted the ‘Gulden Passer’ (‘Golden Compasses’) into a beautiful mansion. The Moretus family cherished their printing works, which had become a part of Antwerp’s heritage. The last owner, Edward Moretus, sold the house to the City of Antwerp in 1876.

Meet Plantin and his family

Christophe Plantin and his son-in-law Jan Moretus were a revolutionary duo. They were the first printers on an industrial scale – the Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg of their day. Four hundred years later, you can simply drop in on them. Because their home and workplace are still there, as if they had just popped out to the bakery.

kopergravure van Europa door Abraham Ortelius

Discover the work of the Plantin printing office

In 1555, Christoffel Plantijn released his first book. In less than twenty years, Plantijn's publishing house has become the top in Europe.

Plan your visit

Welcome

Practical information related to opening hours, ticket sales, time slots, accessibility and everything the museum has to offer.

Calendar

Discover the magic of the Museum. In mansion and printing press. In room and studio. In letters and typography. In beautiful books. Experience how, long before our digital age, words and images were spread around the world. Here is an overview of our activities.

The museum in a nutshell

Step into the house and the print shop.

Enter the world of the influential Plantin and Moretus family. Christophe Plantin spent his life among books. Together with his wife and five daughters, he lived in an imposing property on Vrijdagmarkt. Plantin and Jan Moretus built up an impressive printing business. Today, this is the only museum in the world to be recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Plan your visit and experience it for yourself

Welcome to Plantins house

Meet Plantin and his family

Discover the work of the Plantin printing office

The museum online

Visit the museum from home

The museum is always open online

We are always open if you go online. Go online with and dive into our collections, view our online exhibitions, take a virtual visit of the museum, browse through the museum guide, or listen to the audio guide. Everything to stay indoors and take your mind off things for a while.

de oude drukkerij in het Museum Plantin-Moretus

The Museum Plantin-Moretus, a UNESCO World Heritage site

On Google Arts & Culture

Did you know that the Museum Plantin-Moretus was the first museum on the UNESCO World Heritage list? Visit the museum online on Google Arts & Culture.

In the spotlight

Two international researchers get travel grant to Antwerp (2024-2025)

For the fifth time already, two foreign researchers will receive a travel grant to come to Antwerp for their research on the history of the printed book.

Women and the Household in the Early Modern Book Trade

The Women and the Household in the Early Modern Book Trade Conference 2025 is organised by the Museum Plantin-Moretus, KU Leuven, Utrecht University, and Northumbria University as part of the FWO research project ‘Partners in Innovation. Women Publishers as Knowledgeable Agents in the Low Countries' Book Trade (1550-1750)’.

Abraham Ortelius en een pagina uit de atlas 'Theatrum Orbis Terrarum'

Putting Ortelius on the map

A collaborative project to highlight Ortelius' achievements

In 2027, Museum Plantin-Moretus will celebrate the figure of Abraham Ortelius. To mark his 500th anniversary, a dynamic network of cultural institutions are collaborating on a multi-faceted project that will illuminate Ortelius' contributions to the world of maps, geography, and intellectual history.

Research and collection

Reading room

In our reading room you can consult numerous authentic documents. You will find a precious archive of printed works, manuscripts and drawings.

Collection online

Digitisation is central to the management of the Museum Plantin-Moretus’ extensive collection. Using the online search modules, you can search our digital databases. In this way, you can reserve books, documents, drawings or prints that you wish to consult in the reading room.