On the 23rd of April (Heritage Day) you can visit numerous museums free of charge. Free entrance tickets can be booked via the websites of the museums.

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FOMU | Photo Museum
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FoMu

FOMU | Photo Museum

FOMU is one of the most prestigious and leading photography museums in Europe. As an open house, we like to open a dialogue with our public. FOMU collects and manages unique collections of photographic images, equipment and books. FOMU creates ambitious exhibitions that contextualise and connect. FOMU is an ambassador of both local young talent and established photographers. FOMU inspires and enriches.

FOMU is the meeting place for photography in Belgium. It is an open house where a diverse and broad section of the public feels welcome, involved, surprised and inspired, and where they are encouraged to create and to engage in dialogue. FOMU is an inclusive museum that comes forward and strives for social relevance and impact. Innovation, education and quality form the core of our goal of public mediation and they run as a common thread throughout our offerings.

3 reasons why this is worth your visit

  • FOMU is one of the most prestigious and leading photography museums in Europe and manages unique collections of photographic images, equipment and books. FOMU creates ambitious exhibitions every year and is an ambassador of both local young talent and established photographers.
  • As an open house, we like to open a dialogue with our public. FOMU has an ear for multiple voices and keeps its finger on the pulse of the broader social context. Each season, FOMU organises a wide range of public activities that revolve around photography and social themes, such as vernissages, artist talks and debates, New Narratives Tours and the Nightwatch museum takeover by young talent.
  • FOMU is a place to reflect and experience. Not only can you visit exhibitions, but you can also browse the FOMU library, consult photo books and magazines in the reading room, eat or drink something in the museum café Pixel, shop in the FOMU shop or see a quality film in Cinema Lumière. Het Zuid is the ideal starting point for a day out in Antwerp.
Waalsekaai 47, 2000 Antwerpen
Contact details for visitors
http://www.fotomuseum.be
Waalsekaai 47
2000 Antwerpen
Opening hours
Monday: closed
Tuesday - Sunday: 10:00-18:00
The museum is also closed on the following holidays: 1 January, 24 December, 25 December and 31 December

Karel Sano, department manager at Gevaert Photoproducts N.V., and Piet Baudouin, then curator of the Museum Sterckshof, organised the exhibition ‘125 Years of Photography’ at the Provincial Museum of Art Crafts Sterckshof in Deurne in 1965 with the support of the now merged Agfa-Gevaert. Following the success of this exhibition, the loaned artworks from the Agfa-Gevaert company were donated to the Province of Antwerp, together with the archive of the former publishing department of the company.

This collection represented the start of the permanent department within the museum that is dedicated to the history of photography. The management of this department was entrusted to the Foto & Film working committee under Karel Sano, who was succeeded by Dr Laurent Roosens. From 1973, the tasks undertaken by this working committee were gradually taken over by the scientific staff of the Museum Sterckshof.

Led by historian Roger Coenen, and later assisted by art historian Pool Andries, the camera, photography and library collections outgrew the available space in the Sterckshof. At the end of 1980, the department moved to an office building in the Karel Oomsstraat in Antwerp, where the name ‘Museum for Photography’ was first introduced. In 1986, the museum and its collections found a permanent home in the renovated Flanders warehouse on the Waalsekaai. Architect Georges Baines built a new wing to the warehouse, drastically increasing its capacity.

The year 2000 saw the start of another major renovation. After four years, the renovated Photo Museum opened with 1,400 m2 of exhibition space, two film theatres, a number of extra depots, an enlarged entrance hall and a workshop space. In 2009, the museum gained national recognition. Afterwards, its capacity was further increased with the construction of the Lieven Gevaertoren, the first low-energy photography depot in Europe.

Today, FOMU is a fully-fledged (inter)national heritage management institution that has not only grown in terms of infrastructure, but also in terms of operations and staff.