Antwerp - Plantin-Moretus Museum

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Description

In 1576, Christophe Plantin the printer who hailed originally from France, moved into a house he christened "De gulden Passer" - the Golden Compasses - close by the Vrijdagmarkt (south of the Grote Markt). Thereafter Plantin and his heirs the Moretus family extended the house, ultimately bequeathing to posterity a supreme example of Flemish Renaissance architecture (though the facade facing the Vrijdagmarkt was an 18th C. addition). Today the building is a museum. It incorporates the Old Flemish patrician house, the quiet, vine-covered inner courtyard, and the commercial premises, the latter including an early print-works complete with office and typesetters' room, all in an unparalleled state of preservation. The original furnishings, the wide-ranging exhibits, some of which are unique, but above all, the still tangible atmosphere arising from the proximity of home and workplace, enthrall every visitor and make the Plantin-Moretus Museum one of Antwerp's premier attractions.

Hobbies & Activities category: Historical museum; Manor or country house; Journalism, printing museum or site; Architecture - Renaissance

Plantin-Moretus Museum Highlights

Plantin's Printing-works

Having set up as a printer in 1549, Christophe Plantin (1520-89) transferred his print-works lock, stock and barrel to his new home when he moved to the Vrijdagmarkt in 1576. After his death the

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Plantin-Moretus Museum Copperplate Engravings

Antwerp's civic collection of copperplate engravings (Prentenkabinett) is housed next door to the museum at Vrijdagmarkt 23. Access is for purposes of research only.

Plantin-Moretus Museum Tour

The tour of the house covers 34 rooms. Videos in several different languages recounting the story of the Plantin-Moretus family and the history of printing are shown in one of the ground floor

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Biblia Reglia

The "Second Plantin Room". Among the exhibits is an edition of the famous "Biblia Regia".

Chronicle of Jean Froissart and King Wenceslas Bible

Room 3 contains manuscripts from the ninth to the 16th century including an edition of the Chronicle of Jean Froissart, written in the 15th C., and the Bohemian bible of 1401/02 belonging to King Wenceslas.

Gutenberg Bible

Room 24 is a celebration of the art of printing in Europe as a whole, the jewel in the crown being a 36-line Gutenberg Bible.

History of Books

Room 7 is devoted to the history of books and the processes involved in their production, from the earliest forms of writing and development of the alphabet - exhibits include important

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Justus Lipsius room

The humanist scholar Justus Lipsius (1547-1606) was a close friend of the family, often working in this room. The walls are hung with rare gold 16th C. Spanish leather.

Max Horn collection

This is a room to delight any bibliophile, housing the Max Horn Collection of rare books from the 16th to 18th C.

Moretus family

Room 18 is principally devoted to the Moretus family. One of the books on display contains the earliest known European illustration of a potato plant (1588).

Printing Room

The print-works, the core of the old family business, has a total of eight printing presses on display.

Proof-reader's Room

Room 9 is the proof-readers' room. Original proof-correction sheets dating back to the 16th and 17th C. can be seen on the desks.

Rubens Illustrations

Peter Paul Rubens had a close association with the Moretus family. Here his work as an illustrator is recorded.

Type Foundry

The type foundry was originally set up in the 17th C. The various processes used in the manufacture of metal printing-types are displayed.

Do-It-Yourself Tours

Antwerp Inner Old City and Scheldt Embankment Walking Tour

Address

Plantin Moretus Museum
Vrijdagmarkt 22
B-2000 Antwerp
Belgium

http://museum.antwerpen.be/plantin_moretus/

Hours



Open	Closed	10:00	10:00	10:00	10:00	10:00	10:00
Closed		17:00	17:00	17:00	17:00	17:00	17:00

Always closed on:
New Year's Day (January 1) May Day / Labor Day (May 1) Ascension Thursday - Christian All Saints' Day - Christian (November 1) Christmas - Christian (December 25) Day after Christmas, St Stephen's Day, Boxing Day (December 26)