The Plantin-Moretus Museum Antwerp

This is one of the most beautiful old museums I have ever seen. It is the residence and printing establishment Plantin Press of the famous printers Christoffel Plantijn and Jan Moretus. The printing company was founded in the 16th century by Christoffel Plantijn. After his death is was owned by his son-in-law Jan Moretus. In 1876 Edward Moretus sold the company to the city of Antwerp. Since 2005 it was inscribed onto the UNESCO World Heritage list.

The house is complete with furniture and 30.000 books. This is the shop where the people could buy books. Look at the beautiful windows.

You could walk through the house and go up to two stores and an attic by little wooden stairs, and walk on cracking wooden floors. The family was very wealthy which you could see at the richly decorated interior with paintings and furniture. Watch the leather wallpaper, I had never seen this before.

This is the courtyard and you have an impression how big the house is. I saw authentic printing presses, the two oldest surviving in the world. Complete sets of characters and matrices and an extensive library with a Gutenberg Bible, geographical books, a book describing herbs. To much to mentione all. If you ever have the chance to visit you will not regret it.