Plantijn Moretus Museum visit

Last sunday Noshi and me went out to visit another museum in Antwerp, and this time we went to the Plantin Moretus house on the Vrijdagsmarkt.

The historical house is divided into 34 rooms, each detailing another part of the art of bookbinding and printing, the art Christoffel Plantin made famous.

Christophe Plantin was a french bookbinder and leatherworker from France, who settled in Antwerp in the 16th century.  The city is in it's "Golden Age" by then, and he creates a true market of printing books, being the pionier (not the inventor though) of the field.  Soon, being the smart businessman that he is, he has offices in Frankfurt, Leiden and Paris, but the main house remains in Antwerp.

Over the course of the museum, one also finds various works of his, with hundreds of original books still preserved in the museum.

Apart from books, the museum also contains various maps and charts that where printed by Plantijn.

In the old print atelier, there are even two original mid-16th century printing machines on display, the oldest surviving ones in the world!

The museum also has various pieces of art from his contemporary friends like Rubens on display.

Being located in the actual house, this means you can also peak into the various rooms as they where, like the bedroom or the spring garden.

It`s definitly worth the visit, so if you are ever in Antwerp, like for the Crisis wargame show in november 2018, you can extend your visit to the sunday and pay it a visit, it`s open from 10 till 17 on sundays.