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Study painting First entry of Napoleon to Antwerp

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.

Collection

Antwerp, a metropolis on the river. That's how you know the city today. In the MAS you'll discover that this has been true for a long time. A collection of 500,000 pieces offers you a refreshing look at the city and its contact with other cultures.

Saluting Admiral Couple

At the request of the city of Antwerp, the Antwerp artist Guillaume Bijl created the artwork Saluting Admiral Couple for the fifth anniversary of the MAS. The work gives the monumental building a playful and surprising touch.

Boulevard and panorama

The Boulevard spirals upwards through nine floors like a glass spiral. It treats you to a magnificent view of the city, getting higher and higher, changing constantly. The rooftop panorama offers a 360-degree view of the city, the harbor, and the world.

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.

What we preserve

The MAS collection consists of more than 500,000 objects about art, cultural traditions and history of the city and port of Antwerp. But also of Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Oceania.

Mesoamerican object to Brussels

For the exhibition 'Postcolonial?' at the House of European History in Brussels, the MAS is lending an artefact from Mayan culture. It is an object from the collection of Paul & Dora Janssen-Arts.

Cane and pinfire pistol

The exhibition “Colonialisme. Une Suisse impliquée” is on view at the Château de Prangins (National Museum of Switzerland) through October 11, 2026. For this exhibition, the MAS loaned a cane (made in Kalimantan) and a European-made pistol.

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.