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The archive of Charles Moretus-Plantin

In 1950, Count Charles Moretus-Plantin, the mayor of Stabroek, left his extensive collection of family documents to the Museum Plantin-Moretus. This substantial family fund of a younger branch of the Moretus family constitutes a separate fund in the old archives, namely the “Fonds graaf Charles Moretus-Plantin”.

The Plantin-Moretus archive

The Plantin-Moretus archive contains documents from 1550 until 1865. It is a paper treasure trove and consists of 1,382 ledgers, 990 sheafs, 187 folio volumes and more than 1,385 parchments.

Archives of related families

The Museum Plantin-Moretus also preserves the family and business archives of relatives of the Moretus family from the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The museum preserves the archives of the following families: Schilders, Bosschaert-De Groot, De Labistraete, De Vlieghere-du Mont-Van Wijck and De Neuf and documents of the Goos, Lunden, Geelhand, Wellens, Wolschaten and Verdussen families.

Audio play brings museum to life

The museum comes to life with an audio play.

From the Print Cabinet's depot

Every quarter, the Print Cabinet shows a changing selection, based on a theme relevant to the season.

Narcisse Tordoir

The Pink Spy, 2014

In 2014, the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA) organised a successful exhibition of work by the Antwerp artist Narcisse Tordoir. The city then purchased one of Tordoir’s monumental paintings from the series The Pink Spy for its civic art collection. Tordoir also donated four drawings from the series to the Print Cabinet. In 2015 Narcisse Tordoir brought these drawings and a monumental work to the Museum’s historic premises. The old library was the location of choice to juxtapose his impressive work with the historical context of the Museum.

Scientific research and manuscript dating

The Museum Plantin-Moretus collaborates with the University of Leuven in scientific research into its rich collection of medieval manuscripts. Thanks to the work of Lieve Watteeuw and Catherine Reynolds of the research centre Illuminare, we now know with greater certainty when the manuscripts were produced, and by whom.

RICH research project

Reflectance Imaging for Cultural Heritage

The Museum Plantin-Moretus is a partner in the Leuven research project RICH, short for ‘Reflectance Imaging for Cultural Heritage’. Prof. Lieve Watteeuw of the Illuminare research centre and digital imaging expert Bruno Vandermeulen are working together to digitise the Museum’s bookbindings, prints and miniatures optimally.

boek 'Manuscripten uit het Museum Plantin-Moretus'

'Manuscripts from the Plantin-Moretus Museum’ catalogue

Behind every manuscript lies a story. In the introduction to the catalogue by the expo 'Magnificent Middle Ages', Dirk Imhof, curator of old printed books, reveals the reasons why the Officina Plantiniana purchased its manuscripts.

‘Antwerp portrayed’ catalogue

'Antwerp portrayed' features a selection of thirty important maps and city views from the period between 1520 and 1610. The catalogue offers a majestic portrait of the city.

Inhoudstype

The Pink Spy, 2014

Reflectance Imaging for Cultural Heritage

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