A Night in the Museums - Antwerp
1 wristband = 21 museums + bus transport
Antwerp’s Museum Night fell on the Saturday we were there so it was a must-do. In any case, anything that we can do on the evening when the heat was a little more bearable was an immediate draw. This is the night that the city throws open doors of 21 cultural places so off we go to pick up the magic wristband that allows us entry. (Sadly, although they can be bought online, we couldn’t pick them up in advance so we did have to suffer the heat lining up at 7pm - thankfully before it got really busy!)
What was even better that public transport was thrown in and they’d laid on extra express museum buses that took us out to those away from the city centre.
Our first call, Ruben’s House was just opposite the ticket office. The more popular ones had lines outside but we managed to get into Museum of Modern Art (MHKA) quite quickly. Frankly just one or two on a £10 ticket would have been amazing but we managed to get into a few more with the longest queue being for Museum De Reede. Amazingly one of the staff recognised us in here and we thought he may have been in another museum. Later he came over and told us he'd dined in the same restaurant earlier - we must stand out in Antwerp!
We hoped we could visit MAS another day as it was the furthest out for another day. And on our last day, this proved to be a highlight. It wasn’t open when we popped in for dinner at Balls & Glory - itself a work of art - but we could see the building and that was marvelous. Then we discovered the rooftop was in fact open. What joy! The building is fantastic inside and out, just oozing with joy, optimism and art.
How can a small city have so many museums?
Add to this the art everywhere, from the painted sides of buildings to statues and to the Pride zebra crossing. If you just spent your days looking out for these, you’ll have a wonderful time in Antwerp.
