MAS | Museum aan de Stroom

The MAS opened its doors on 17 May 2011, harbouring the collections of a number of Antwerp museums that had previously shut their doors: the Ethnographic Museum, the National Maritime Museum and the Folklore Museum. Partial collections from the Museum Butchers’ Hall also moved to the brand new MAS. In addition, the city of Antwerp has the Paul and Dora Janssen-Arts collection on loan from the Flemish Government.

The MAS unites these collections into new stories: about the city, the river and the harbour; about the world in all its diversity; and about Antwerp’s connection with the world. In the MAS the visitor will discover Antwerp’s place in the world and the part played by the rest of the world in the history and culture of Antwerp. That is the unique combination of the MAS: it is Antwerp and it is global.

Architecture
In 2000, Antwerp city council launched an international architecture competition for the design of a new city museum. Of the 55 entries, the proposal by Neutelings Riedijk Architects was preferred by the jury. Exactly 10 years later, the museum was completed.

The concept produced by the Dutch architectural firm fits in well with the historical function and atmosphere of the location. The MAS stands on the site of the former Hansahuis, a 16th century warehouse. There were, and still are, dozens of similar buildings in the vicinity.

The Hansahuis or Oosterlingenhuis was built between 1564 and 1568 and was the largest trading complex in the city. It served as the seat of the German Hanseatic League in Antwerp. The building measured 80 metres by 62 metres and had no less than 133 rooms and storerooms. German merchants could stay there and stack their merchandise. It was destroyed by fire in 1893.

The MAS is also a warehouse. The 60-metre-high tower actually consists of 10 huge suitcases in natural stone stacked on top of each other. It often seems as though both the history of Antwerp and the history of the world is stored inside the warehouse.

The MAS is now one of the largest museums in Antwerp. With a 60-metre-high building containing museum rooms, a viewing depot, a vertical city gallery, a panoramic roof terrace, a two-star restaurant, a museum café, a museum square and four pavilions, it is hard to get bored in the MAS.