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Visible Storage

FREE ENTRANCE | The Visible Storage gives you a look behind the scenes of the MAS. More than 180,000 collection pieces on tall racks, stacked and labelled, await their turn to be exhibited.

Palestinian embroidery

FREE ENTRANCE | Discover ‘Tatreez’ (Palestinian embroidery) in the Visible Storage. Historical pieces from the MAS collection are displayed alongside contemporary creations. The presentation shows how this centuries-old embroidery tradition is much more than just decoration on textiles.

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.

Discover the collection

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.

8 x dance in the collection

FREE ENTRANCE | From October 25, 2025, dance is the starting point in the Visible Storage for delving into the MAS collection. Eight people from dance communities in Antwerp rummaged through the depots together with the curators. 

Scheldt Free!

The freeing of the Scheldt was a landmark event in Flemish history. In mid-1863, Antwerp celebrated that after more than 250 years, merchant shipping on the Scheldt was truly free again. A telling painting of this ‘Scheldt Free!’ celebration from the MAS collection can be seen in our Visible Storage.

A glimpse of the collection

FREE ENTRANCE | The MAS collection numbers almost 600,000 pieces. Part of it can be admired in the exhibitions, the rest is carefully stored in various depots. In the free accessible Visible Storage, you can take a peek behind the scenes. Varied and surprising partial presentations provide a constantly changing view of the collection. 

Stuff

Guy Rombouts and Benjamin Verdonck rearrange Jaap Kruithof

The Belgian philosopher Jaap Kruithof collected things that other people usually discard. Half of his collection is now given a new life thanks to the work of visual artists Guy Rombouts and Benjamin Verdonck.

A glimpse of the collection

Until 25.10.2023

CLOSED | You could find out more about the people behind the objects of the MAS: who used them, who collected them? And at the same time, you could take a look behind the scenes of the museum.

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.