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Antwerp Hand biscuits

Cookies with a history

The Antwerp Hand biscuits are the most well-known tourist souvenir from the city. In the MAS collection, we find many packagings of the biscuits. However, behind the scenes of the little biscuit, there is more than one story to tell.

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. 

Belgian emigrants

In 1890, the painter Louis van Engelen depicted a crowd of Belgian emigrants moving across Antwerp’s Nassau Bridge to the district of Het Eilandje towards a ship. The resident population watches them pass by.

Provenance of the Congo collection

The MAS preserves culturally and historically sensitive Congolese heritage. In what circumstances did this collection of approximately 3,800 cultural objects come into being? A two-year research project will map this out more clearly.

Living Collection, Living Traditions

FREE ENTRANCE | In a diverse city like Antwerp, you can find all kinds of traditions that people still actively practice today. In the Visible Storage, eight people invite you to discover the tradition they continue to live and experience. Each of them selected an object that is indispensable to their tradition and shares what that tradition means to them.

Display of Power | About Prestige and Symbols

17.05.2011 - 18.02.2018

People have been fascinated by power for centuries. Why is power so seductive? What kind of prestige accompanies it? A highly topical theme in which – who knows? – you may find some personal relevance.

Tuah Mangiring

How are indigenous Batak belief systems preserved and transmitted today, and what challenges do the communities that practise them face? What meanings are held by the Batak artefacts ulos/uis, pustaha and tunggal panaluan within their communities of origin, and how has this changed over time?

6 highlights from the exhibition

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In memoriam

Chris De Lauwer

On May 6, 2018 Chris De Lauwer, curator and keeper of the Asia collection in the MAS, passed away. Chris was 62.