Napoleon's visit to Antwerp in 1803 was a high point for the city on the Scheldt. Joséphine de Beauharnais, Napoleon's wife, ordered a painting to immortalise the entry. This is a preliminary sketch for that.
The Saulus tableau depicts a Biblical scene: on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus, the Roman Saul, persecuting Christians, is blinded by a lightning bolt and thrown from his horse. This tile tableau of over 1 by 2 metres has 98 tiles in majolica, colourful and glazed earthenware.
In this impressive warehouse, all the museum rooms are stacked like boxes. Follow the Boulevard with its metres-high glass windows as it spirals upwards, and enjoy an incredible view of the city from every level.
The MAS exhibit, 'Cool Japan', took you on a whirlwind tour of the global fascination for Japanese visual culture with icons such as Hello Kitty, Zelda and Sailor Moon.
We are happy to lend our collection to make it known to a wider audience, to encourage new research on the collection and to foster the connection with the heritage community.
Military violence and mass persecution of Jews and dissenters during World War II broke the city. Personal stories and objects make this period very tangible in this new permanent MAS exhibition.
CLOSED | What can be heritage? What has value and what does not? A photo exhibition in the boulevard explored these questions. It showed the people behind the city's heritage. And the exhibition was complemented by online stories.
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.
The painting 'Entry of Bonaparte, as First Consul, into Antwerp on 18th July 1803' by Mathieu Ignatius Van Bree was added to the list of Top Pieces by the Flemish Government. The large oil painting hangs in the Palace of Versailles, an identical work in a small format belongs to the MAS collection.
