Some museums are brand new and flashy, others are hidden or nostalgic little gems unknown to even most locals. Trot Op! With weather as awful as we had this summer, a man has to find himself a little project to keep from getting all too depressed. This is why I decided to visit every single museum in Antwerp during the summer holidays.
Kind of a bummer, but I enthusiastically started my endeavour anyway. To avoid complaints and general favouritism, I kept the whole list in its natural alphabetical order. Until recently, everyone living in Antwerp could get into most museums for free.
A Museum Pass is a good alternative. Almost every major Belgian museum works with it. To keep my selection within reasonable limits, I had to impose some rules upon myself someone has to do it. A number of entries might play with the boundaries of what could be considered a museum, but commercial galleries selling art will not be in the list whatsoever. Only those with an extensive art collection and an entrance fee made the cut. All of this led me to an interesting experience, which took me to various places in my own city I had never even heard of.
Enjoy, go and visit a few and let me know which was your biggest discovery β or whether or not I still missed some. Well would you look at that: the first museum on the list is also by far the smallest. In it, he showcases a new automaton every three months. These are figurines that are able to move with the help of a little manpower and some intricate mechanics.
If you want to see them in action, just slide a single measly euro into the slot or pay by card: the future is now old man. The lights will pop on, you can spin the little handle and the entire thing will spontaneously come to life. Fun to watch, and at least it brightens up the street scene. Jozef Peeters was one of the first abstract painters in Belgium, but was never seen as a big name during his lifetime He lived in a small apartment on Gerlachekaai.
