Experience

ANTWERP | Reopening Rubens House delayed to 2030

Posted by Timothy on

Soon visitors will be able to discover another piece of the Rubens House in Antwerp which currently closed for restoration and expansion. A new multifunctional building and garden are in line to open their doors in the summer of 2024. However, unexpectedly high costs for the restoration of the artist’s home require an updated plan, which will inevitably change the timing of the reopening.

The work on the new building of the Rubens House at Hopland (street) and in the garden is going well. The shell almost reaches its highest point. In the garden, the planting of bushes, shrubs and bulbs will be completed this autumn and next spring. Both yards are still on schedule for the planned opening in the summer of 2024 and that is great news for visitors.

Concerns

However, the restoration of the artist’s home is a concern. The total cost turns out to be considerably higher than estimated, partly due to rising raw material prices and inflation. 

In addition, asbestos has been found in the building and this contamination must first be carefully removed. These factors make the restoration process more complex than initially thought and mean that costs are rising and that the approach and planning of the restoration work on the artist’s home must necessarily be adjusted. Because the city wants to use the available financial resources carefully and the legal procedures must be respected, a new action plan is being developed with a new estimate of the costs. As a result, the collaboration with the current architect will also be terminated and a new appointment procedure will have to be started. As a result, the timing shifts and the artist’s home will not open its doors in 2027.

Master plan Rubens House expanded

The Rubens House is now using this change in planning to expand the master plan to the adjacent Kolveniershof. A detailed plan of action will be drawn up in the coming weeks and months together with an external consultancy firm. 

The combination of this restoration with that of the museum, both protected and from the same period, reduces the cost price in the long term, ensures that the works can be organized more efficiently and has an impact on the timing: the museum and the Kolveniershof will not open their doors until 2030.

Kolveniershof: a building with a rich history

The Kolveniershof, where the city’s shooting guild met in Rubens’ time, is today used by the Rubens House. The protected monument is now the storage place for the rich library and documentation, until it is housed in the reading room of the new building on Hopland. In the future, the Kolveniershof will become an essential part of public-oriented activities on the museum site.

Rubens House Collection

The Rubens House collection can currently be seen in various places in Flanders, such as the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp or Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten (KMSKA), Museum Aan de Stroom (MAS) and Het Steen. Some masterpieces will soon travel abroad where they will be given a temporary place in world-renowned museums. 

A small part of the works of art from the Rubens House will be on display in the new multifunctional building on Hopland that was designed by Robbrecht en Daem Architects.

Summer of 2024

From the summer of 2024, visitors are welcome in the new building at Hopland and in the newly landscaped garden. In the multimedia space, the visitor comes face to face with Rubens. 

The internationally acclaimed library will be the place for every researcher into Rubens and his contemporaries. Hidden behind the facade is the beautiful Baroque garden with more than 17,000 plants. With the opening of the multifunctional building and the reopening of the garden, the experience in the Rubens House will be back.

Art and museums in Antwerp