The City of Antwerp will hold the 17th Museum Night on Saturday 5 August from 7 PM to 1 AM. 19 Antwerp museums welcome young and old for a unique program including guided tours, workshops and performances. During this 17th edition of Museum Night, visitors can also discover the renovated Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp (RMFAA, KMSKA) and Het Steen.

On August 5, 19 museums will be offering a varied program from 7 PM, specially put together for Museum Night. There is something for everyone, with a single ticket at a presale rate of 18 euros. 

Sample a ‘Diamond Drink’ in DIVA and discover whether there is a real diamond in their bubbles, have a photo taken in a midcentury setting in the FOMU, bring out the child in themselves in an artistically responsible way in the M HKA, pimp a Man Ray-style tote bag at the MoMu, have a hand-pricked tattoo done by artist Doe Ta Ni Tattoe at the MAS, see Flanders‘ most famous cartoonists live at work at Museum De Reede or link to a work of art at the Museum Mayer van den Bergh.

It is therefore difficult to choose, and on top of these activities, the visitor encounters DJs or live bands in museum rooms and acts in the most idyllic courtyards of the Antwerp museums. 

For example, Gene Bervoets will perform songs from the Antwerp manuscript ‘Het Mengelmoes‘ from 1696 on Conscienceplein. No religious chants, but lyrics about sex, folk humor, excessive drinking and violence. In Museum Vleeshuis, jazz aficionados enjoy a performance by the young and talented jazz ensemble Anke Ludwig Quartet with a mocktail in hand.

Besides music, there is of course also art, and partner organization AmuseeVous provides the Antwerp museums with artistic interventions by young makers who challenge all classical perspectives.

Only during Museum Night

On this 17th edition of Museum Night you can also visit the renovated KMSKA and Het Steen. The KMSKA is offering an Instagram and ‘Twilight’ tour, DJ Deloin and a cocktail bar, among other things. In Het Steen, the visitor discovers rooms that have not been accessible before and the viewing platform on the tower remains open until 1 AM. Ideal for catching a sultry sunset. ​

Alderman for Culture Nabilla Ait Daoud (N-VA): “Museum Night has something magical every year. This year we pull out all the stops and transform the entire city into one large museum. From folk songs from the 17th century to Man Ray totebags: our Antwerp heritage is alive and kicking and culture makes our city vibrant.”

Follow the guide

Jump on your bike that evening and listen to the city stories of the guides from Expeditie De Stad and Cyclant along the way. They introduce participants to, among others, Museum Mayer van den Bergh, M HKA and the Sint-Andrieskerk or St. Andrew’s Church For this tour, interested parties bring their own bicycle and buy an extra Cyclant ticket in advance. ​

Museum Night will conclude with an afterparty at the MAS from 1 AM to 4 AM A unique opportunity to dance with an astonishing view of the city and Scheldt. Partygoers buy a combination ticket for Museum Night and the afterparty in advance, the places are limited. ​

Visitors who have had too little time to finish all the museums on their list in one night will have a second chance: with the (cut off) wristband, they will have free access to one of the participating museums until 31 August 2023.

These 19 museums and cultural institutions open their doors during Museum Night: 

1. AMUZ;
2. Cinema Lumière;
3. DIVA;
4. Heritage Library Hendrik Conscience;
5. Het Steen;
6. FOMU;
7. KMSKA;
8. M HKA;
9. Maagdenhuis;
10. MAS;
11. MoMu;
12. Museum De Reede;
13. Museum Mayer van den Bergh;
14. Museum Plantin-Moretus;
15. Museum Vleeshuis;
16. Red Star Line Museum;
17. Sint-Andrieskerk;
18. Sint-Pauluskerk;
19. Snijders & Rockoxhuis.

View the extensive Museum Night program at www.museumnacht.be.

Practical

• Saturday, August 5, 2023 from 7 PM to 1 AM in 19 participating museums.
• Afterparty at the MAS from 1 AM to 4 AM. 
• Ticket sales will start on 27 June 2023 at 10 AM via http://www.museumnacht.be.
• Presale rate: 18 euros
• A-card with discount rate and 12 year olds: free.
• Participation in cycling tour Cyclant: 10 euros. This ticket can only be purchased in combination with a Museum Night ticket. Capacity is limited.
• After party: 9 euros. This ticket can only be purchased in combination with a Museum Night ticket. Capacity is limited.
• Presale until August 4, 2023. Tickets from August 5, 2023 at midnight: 20 euros.
• Velo Antwerp treats everyone with a Museum Night ticket to a free day pass for a shared bike that is valid for 24 hours. 
• Practical information can be found on http://www.museumnacht.be.

Art and museums in Antwerp

• ANTWERP | Baroque Influencers city festival of tradition and renewal.
• REVIEW | Illusion Antwerpen, an active and photogenic museum.
• Antwerp museums and sports facilities team up with European Disability Card for accessible leisure activities.
• FOMU 2023 | Reimagined collection, strippers – Nicaragua – Kurdistan and people touching each other.
• ANTWERP 2023 | MoMu fashion museum presents IO Van Oostveldt and Man Ray exhibitions.
• ANTWERP | Rubens House closed for renovation.
• Inside the KMSKA or Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp.
• VIDEO | Inside the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp.
• Museum Mayer van den Bergh.
• ANTWERP | ‘Stories of Refuge’ exhibition at Red Star Line Museum.
• 2023 at the museums of Antwerp.
• 2022 in the museums of Antwerp.
• ANTWERP | ‘Stories of refuge’ exhibition at Red Star Line Museum.
• ANTWERP | Inside Rubens House.
• ANTWERP | Garden of renovated Rubens House to be open air exhibition space.
• ModeMuseum MoMu – Fashion Museum Antwerp 2021.
• ModeMuseum MoMu – Fashion Museum Antwerp 2022.
• ‘Freight’ and ‘Listen’ exhibitions at MAS in Antwerp.
• ‘Masculinities: Liberation through Photography’ exhibition at FOMU, Antwerp’s photography museum.
• ANTWERP | Goshka Macuga’s ‘Figures of Absence’ honours underrepresented women in public domain art.
• Museum Plantin-Moretus in Antwerp.
• ‘Eurasia – A Landscape of Mutability’ exhibition at Antwerp’s M HKA modern arts museum.
• ANTWERP | Geert De Weyer Gallery, a space for illustrators’ and comic strip authors’ art.
• Museum Plantin-Moretus will exhibit long-lost illustration by Rubens: ‘Opticorum Libri Sex’.
• ‘100 X Congo’ exhibition at Museum Aan de Stroom (MAS) in Antwerp.
• ANTWERP | Museum Vleeshuis up for restoration.
• REVIEW | ‘Cool Japan’ exhibition at Museum Aan de Stroom (MAS) in Antwerp from 18 October 2019 to 19 April 2020. 
• BOOK | ‘Antwerp. An Archaeological View on the Origin of the City’ by Tim Bellens.
• Red Star Line Museum.
• Paleis op de Meir. 
• DIVA, Antwerp Home of Diamonds.
• ANTWERP | Red Star Line Museum of (e)migration.
• ANTWERP | Museum Mayer van den Bergh is expanding into former District Hall.
• ANTWERP | Traveling exhibition #StolenMemory at Museum At the Stream (MAS).
• Museum At the Stream opens ‘City at war, Antwerp, 1940-1945’ exhibition on 8 September.
• ANTWERP | Middelheim Museum remains open during renovation and rearrangement works.