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Finding your way round the museum

Explore the home and business premises of Plantin and the Moretus family on your own, with an audio play, booklet or game. Or take a guided tour.

Museumguide

A map will guide you around the highlights of the museum in about one hour. Would you like to spend more time? Please choose a guide from the bookshelves in the hall or read the information over here.

Who on earth was Plantin?

Christophe Plantin was an intellectual with a flair for business. Shortly before 1550 he moved from France to Antwerp. Five years later he started his own printing press, which he built into the largest in the world.

Ten reasons for visiting the Plantin-Moretus Museum

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

Schoolvisit without a guide

Every visitor wants to visit the museum in optimal conditions – – understandably enough. This is why groups and schools reserve in advance. That way, we can coordinate group visits more smoothly.

Audio play brings museum to life

The museum comes to life with an audio play.

View of the Antwerp Roadstead

This print shows Antwerp in 1521, as seen from the place known at that time as Vlaams Hoofd and now as Linkeroever. It glorifies the city on the Scheldt as an important economic and cultural centre. A scroll or banderole near the Church of Our Lady reads ‘Antverpia mercatorum emporium’ (‘Antwerp: the merchants’ emporium’).

Christ carrying the cross

Anthony Van Dyck’s work is also represented in the Print Cabinet’s collection. This drawing of Christ Carrying the Cross is a preparatory study for his painting of the same name that is kept in St Paul’s Church, Antwerp. In it, Van Dyck demonstrates his mastery of dynamism.

Odysseus' ship stocked with provisions by Calypso

Jacob Jordaens was a gifted draughtsman and painter. Here he shows seven servants carrying supplies aboard Odysseus’ ship, under the gaze of the lovelorn nymph Calypso.

Allegory for Abraham Ortelius

This superb little drawing on parchment was done by Joris Hoefnagel in 1593 to commemorate his friendship with the cartographer and geographer Abraham Ortelius, as the inscriptions below inform us.

Inhoudstype

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