The Plantin-Moretus Museum is the only museum in the world on the UNESCO World Heritage list, a testament to its importance to the collective interest of humanity. And in visiting and subsequent research into the Officina Plantiniana, it is noteworthy to draw parallels that today’s printing enterprises should consider.
Christophe Plantin, born 500 years ago this May, was one of the most important printer-publishers of his time. To honor the occasion, Antwerp’s Plantin-Moretus Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has planned a series of festive projects and exhibitions to run through 2020.
Source: Plantin-Moretus Museum Marks Famous Printer’s 500th Birthday
Two major Antwerp institutions are putting some of their voluminous holdings in the cloud.
Source: The Ambitious Plan to Digitize 100,000 Historic Texts in Belgium
There’s plenty to see and do this winter in Antwerp. Too many choices? Here’s a great checklist to make the most out of your winter day in Antwerp! 9 am
Source: How to enjoy the perfect winter day in Antwerp? | Spotted by Locals blog
During a trip visiting old friends in Europe this past spring, I found my new favorite museum in Antwerp, Belgium: the Plantin-Moretus Museum.
Source: Plantin-Moretus Museum: A Perfect Bookish Destination in Antwerp, Belgium
A list of some great things to do in Antwerp. Get ready to change your travel plans and spend more time in the city than you might have ever imagined!
Source: Things to Do in Antwerp: Tips On Art, Culture and Beer
Belgium – Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex
Liza Foreman explores an underrated Belgian city full of destinations for design-and-fashion lovers.
Antwerp has long been associated with the acclaimed Antwerp Six fashion designers, but there is much more to the city than this. Director of the city’s Fotomuseum Elviera Velghe tells BBC Designed: “It’s a creative hub with wonderful architecture, including the gorgeous Port House by Zaha Hadid, shops with a story, cosy streets with coffeehouses, antiques stores like the Kloosterstraat, or magnificent museums like M HKA (Museum of Contemporary Art).” Here are some of the top destinations for design and fashion enthusiasts.
Fotomuseum
Giant collages of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s photographs covered the walls of FOMU’s warehouse galleries for its recent exhibition Mirror. The museum, which opened its doors in 1965 and moved, in 1986, into this repurposed Vlaanderen warehouse, is now showing something closer to home. Collection In Transit documents the upcoming move of FOMU’s archives into the new Lieven Gevaert Tower, which will be Europe’s first low-energy photo depot.
ModeMuseum
Housed in the ModeNatie, the same building as the Royal Academy’s infamous Fashion Department, MoMu is a well-respected, dedicated fashion museum. It opened its doors in 2002.
Source: Antwerp: design hub
Belgium – Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex
In a country that oozes culture and history, it may be hard for any historic city to stand out. Antwerp, however, manages to do that with flair and charm. Belgium’s second-largest city, after the capital of Brussels, boasts numerous medieval architectural landmarks, several world-class restaurants, the nation’s premier shopping strip and is the global hub of the diamond industry. On top of all that, there are also many superb museums in Antwerp, the best five of which are listed below.
The museums in Antwerp cover an almost impossibly wide range of subjects. In this glorious historic city—a true Western European gem—you’ll find museums that feature such things as fashion and art, but also turn-of-the-century emigration to America, the history of printing and a variety of other themes.
5. MoMu
While Belgium is historically not a major fashion hotspot, that all changed in the 80s and 90s thanks to the “Antwerp Six”, a sextet of fashion designers who graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Antwerp in the early 1980s.
Source: Top 5 Museums in Antwerp for Your Belgium Trip | Go 4 Travel Blog
Belgium – Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex
Filled to the brim with rich history, beautiful architecture, cultural events and great cuisine, Belgium may be small but certainly packs a punch. Museum fans will find a little paradise in this underrated country. These are the 10 best Belgium museums, fun and fascinating places that cover everything from fine art to world-changing inventions.
10 Best Belgium Museums to Visit
In Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres
Let’s start this list with what is arguably the best World War One museum in the world. That might be a serious claim, but anyone who’s visited the In Flanders Fields Museum will agree that it’s absolutely amazing, humbling and fascinating.
Located in the historic Cloth Hall of Ypres, which lay on the very frontline during the Great War, this museum is exceptional because it does not glorify warfare.
Belgium – Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex
The highly recommended Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, Belgium, is the world’s only museum that’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
You won’t have any trouble finding visit-worthy historic and cultural sites in Antwerp, Belgium, but there’s one that’s among the most exceptional in the world. The Plantin-Moretus Museum is the only museum in the world that’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Everyone who visits Antwerp should at least consider visiting this superb museum.
The Birth of Mass Printing
In the 16th century, printer Christophe Plantin moved from Paris to Antwerp, a city that was basically the beating heart of northern Europe in the 1500’s. He established a printing business in the city center. The business was well-supplied by its huge harbor and home to many skilled craftsmen.
Belgium – Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex
From the World Heritage inscription for the Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex:
The Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex is the only surviving printing workshop and publishing house in the world dating back to the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Situated in Antwerp, one of the three leading cities of early European printing along with Paris and Venice, it is associated with the history of the invention and dissemination of typography. Its name refers to the greatest printer-publisher of the second half of the 16th century, Christophe Plantin (c. 1520-1589), and his son-in-law, Jan Moretus I (1543-1610), who took over the best-equipped printing company in Europe upon Plantin’s death. It was thanks to the Moretus family that the firm’s production activities continued in the same location for three centuries, from 1576 to 1867.
Belgium – Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex
This past weekend, the Plantin-Moretus Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage site, reopened in Antwerp, Belgium. Once home to sixteenth-century printers, Christopher Plantin and his son-in-law Jan Moretus, the museum has welcomed visitors since the late nineteenth century, when descendant Edward Moretus sold the building and its contents to the city. Its recent renovation seeks to invigorate interest in Plantin and his famous print-works with “cinematic interventions, soundscapes, and hands-on activities.”
Bibliophiles need not despair over these newfangled additions. As noted in a press release, “Digital media will be present, but will play a subordinate role: the book is central … Our goal in this authentic, UNESCO-protected setting is to bring to life the activities of the home and workshops. The visitor takes a time machine to the 16th century, meets Plantin as a family man, manager, printer, humanist and visionary publisher and experiences how a world-class entrepreneur developed his business.”
