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What's on?

Discover the magic of the museum. In house and printing workshop. In room and atelier. In letter and typography. In the most beautiful books. Experience how, long before our digital age, word and image were already being shared across the world.

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What's on?
©Jeroen Broeckx

The Museum Plantin-Moretus is closed until 4 December 2026. We are working on new activities for our visitors.

Getting around in the museum

Finding your way

Finding your way

Explore the home and business of the Plantins and the Moretuses on your own, with a visitor’s guide, audio tour, or audio play.
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The museum in a nutshell

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The printing workshop

The printing workshop

What a hive of activity! Day after day, 1,250 sheets rolled off the presses, while more than 50 workers kept everything running. You can almost see it happening, because the 16th-century printing house has remained almost completely intact. Did you know that the two oldest wooden printing presses in the world are housed here?
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The garden

The garden

Want to escape the hustle and bustle of the city? Take refuge in the historic courtyard garden of the Plantin-Moretus Museum. An oasis of calm in the heart of Antwerp.
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The living quarters

The living quarters

Gold and Rubens on the walls, and valuable furniture and objects in every corner. Each generation of this wealthy entrepreneurial family added personality and a touch of grandeur. Centuries-old luxury with timeless class.
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The library

The library

Respect for historical heritage, a love of books and almost five centuries of collecting in one space. Still a source of information for scientists and historians from all over the world.
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Highlights from our collections

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The world's two oldest printing presses
©LUCID
Collection

The world's two oldest printing presses

Printing led to a huge increase in the speed of communication. The two oldest printing presses in the world bear witness to this process. They were built around 1650, and can be admired in the Museum Plantin-Moretus, nearly four centuries later.

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Hendrik van den Keere (1540-1580), Grande musicque
Collection

Hendrik van den Keere (1540-1580), Grande musicque

Printing was also a revolutionary development in the world of music. The Ghent type founder Hendrik van den Keere supplied Christophe Plantin with 44 sets of punches and matrices. Plantin used the ‘Grande Musicque’ type set to print choral music.

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Rosewood curio cabinet
©LUCID
Collection

Rosewood curio cabinet

The museum has a rich collection of antique furniture. The rosewood and ebony curio cabinet definitely belonged to the Moretus family. The cabinet is supported by four Moors – a learned allusion to the name Moretus.

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The 36-line Gutenberg Bible
Collection

The 36-line Gutenberg Bible

The 36-line Bible is a monument in the history of printing. The Augustinian monastery of Nuremberg donated this copy in 1514 to its new sister institution in Antwerp. When that monastery was closed in 1522 because of Lutheran sympathies, the Bible was put on the market. Nobody knows how it then ended up in Plantin’s library.

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M

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Museum shop

Looking for special gift or a souvenir from your trip? Browse our museum shop. Or check the online catalogue.

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