Two small-scale exhibitions will open on the ground floor of Antwerp City Hall in the spring of 2025, one about the cathedral tower and one that uses archaeological research to shed light on the origins and growth of the city.

For the people of Antwerp, the beautiful cathedral tower is their eternal pride, for visitors it is a unique example of Gothic architecture. For centuries, this belfry tower was the ideal means of communication between the city and its residents.

Museum Vleeshuis will also be organising guided tours of the cathedral tower in 2025 from April, with ticket sales starting on 14 March. 

Now that Museum Vleeshuis is closed for restoration work, these will not start in the museum, but in the city hall. Using a few pieces from Museum Vleeshuis’s special music collection, visitors will be introduced to the tower in all its functions at a mini-exhibition: as a belfry, music box, clock and protected UNESCO heritage.

Tower Tunes

This exhibition ‘TorenTunes: a small expo about grand sounds’ will also be open to everyone from 14 March during the opening hours of the city hall. All information can be found at https://museumvleeshuis.be/nl/torentunes.

History of Antwerp exhibition

At the end of May, during the Archeology Days, a second mini-exhibition will open to the public in the city hall. It will highlight the origins and growth of Antwerp, from Gallo-Roman settlement to 16th-century metropolis, based on the results and findings of city archaeological research.

The common thread throughout the exhibition will be the 16th-century map ‘Urbs Antverpia‘ by Vergilius Bononiensis. 

Archaeological sites and findings are situated on this special city map and take the visitor on a journey through the story of the growth of the city up to the construction of the bastioned city wall and the flourishing port on the Scheldt River. 

Attention will also be paid to the city hall itself, more specifically to the archaeological research that took place here as part of the renovation.

Finally, the previously opened exhibition ‘Antwerp Tomorrow‘ in the left wing of the city hall is permanent. It is therefore always accessible to visitors.

Art and museums in Antwerp

• ANTWERP | Graphics Museum De Reede ft. Francisco Goya, Edvard Munch, Félicien Rops and Albrecht Dürer.
• REPORT | Ensor 2024 exhibitions in Antwerp: Plantin-Moretus, MoMu, FOMU and KMSKA fine arts museum.
• ANTWERP | Rubens Experience and Rubens Garden at Rubenshuis.
• Antwerp will have a new Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp M HKA.
• ANTWERP | Innovations in the Middelheim Museum provide a completely new visitor experience.
• A visit of the Flemish Tram and Bus Museum – Vlaams Tram- en Autobusmuseum (VlaTAM) in Antwerp.
• ANTWERP | Discovering queer(ed) art with the Queer Tour at the KMSKA fine arts museum.
• REVIEW | Illusion Antwerpen, an active and photogenic museum.
• Antwerp museums and sports facilities team up with European Disability Card for accessible leisure activities.
• Museum Mayer van den Bergh.
• ANTWERP | Inside Rubens House.
• Museum Plantin-Moretus in Antwerp.
• ANTWERP | Museum Vleeshuis up for restoration.
• 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.