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foto: Ans Brys foto: Ans Brys

Ten reasons for visiting the Plantin-Moretus Museum

Why you shouldn't miss the Plantin-Moretus Museum.

  1. Where time has stood still. Step inside the house and the printing works and walk straight into the 16th and 17th centuries. It’s as though Christophe Plantin has just closed the door behind him.
  2. Enjoy the splendours of yesterhear. Gilded leather on the walls, portraits of Peter Paul Rubens, an impressive library... The family Plantin-Moretus were prosperous, and lived in a veritable mansion.
  3. Unique printing press. The two oldest printing presses in the world and more than 20.000 lead letters, an impressive collection.
  4. Books, books, books. Christoffel Plantin collected books. Today, the collection has an incredible 30.000 old books, illustrated manuscripts and other treasures of European printing.
  5. A green spot in the middle of the city. The courtyard and garden were already a tourist attraction in Plantin's day. Listen to the silence in the garden and discover popular plants from the 16th and 17th centuries.
  6. The old bookshop. With its counter and cabinets, the shop is still fully equipped for book-selling, right down to the scales for checking the weight of silver and gold coins.
  7. Immerse yourself in the printing trade. Put on a printer’s apron and get to work. Make a bookmark with a blind stamp, fold a section of a book and typeset your name in mirror image.
  8. Leafing through replica's of old books. Some of the museum rooms have copies of famous publications of Plantin. Page through the herbal book of Dodoens, the pentaligual bible, an Ortelius atlas, ...
  9. Audio play. New three-dimensional audiotechniques bring the museum's story to life. An ancient house has plenty of stories to tell!
  10. UNESCO World Heritage. Museum Plantin-Moretus is the only museum in the world on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Museum Plantin-Moretus

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