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Discover the collection

Antwerp is a port city where the world has been mooring at the docks for centuries. The MAS collection is the place where city and world meet. 500,000 exhibits offer a varied perspective on the city and its age-old contacts with the world. Some of them are displayed in permanent and temporary exhibitions, but most are kept in storage. In the Visible Storage area, the MAS lifts a corner of the veil. For the really inquisitive, the MAS also has its entire collection on display online.

Various collections under one roof

The collections to be found in the MAS today were previously spread across several different specialised museums in Antwerp. The opening of the MAS in 2011 brought them all together under one roof. The MAS combines collections, both inside and outside its walls, from:

  • The former Ethnographic Museum
  • The former National Maritime Museum
  • The former Folk Museum
  • Part of the collection of the Butchers’ Hall
  • A collection of museum harbour cranes
  • The Paul and Dora Janssen-Arts collection of pre-Columbian art, on loan from the Flemish Community.

And there’s more. Under the heading of ‘The Antwerp Collection’, the MAS also coordinates all cultural heritage items from or in the city of Antwerp. Even if they are kept elsewhere.

 

Collection online

Do you want to be able to enjoy all the MAS’s objects from the past, from Antwerp and from the world at any time and in any place? Well, you can, because the MAS also has its entire collection online.

Restoration of a tile panel

The tile panel 'The Conversion of Saul' is one of the most important pieces of the MAS I Vleeshuis collection, the collection of applied arts and history from the city of Antwerp.

Aids Memorial Quilts

Quilts played an important role in commemorating AIDS victims from 1987 onwards. Fortunately, HIV is now less deadly in Europe. Consequently, fewer quilts are being created. This is why the Flemish non-profit organisation Sensoa donated its quilts to the MAS collection.

Loans and donations

Would you like to exhibit works from the MAS collection, or do you possess unique objects that would enrich the collection? We’d love to hear from you.

Discover Antwerp’s heritage

Mention of heritage in Antwerp immediately puts us in mind of the cathedral or a painting by Rubens. But the Reuzenstoet (Giants’ Parade) or an ancient tree are also part of our heritage, and the same is true of everything we have built up over the centuries in our society.

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