Photos

another image from that cold walkabout in my hometown...

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Antwerp is a city on a river. It has a port.
For centuries this has made it a place of meeting,
encounter and exchange.

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The MAS museum takes up the traces of these exchanges and with them tells its stories. About the city, the river, the port. About the world in all its diversity. About Antwerp in/and the world.

MAS stands for 'Museum aan de Stroom', which translates as 'museum on the river'. It was designed by the Dutch architectural firm Neutelings Riedijk Architects and lies somewhat to the north of the centre, in the old docks area.

The MAS opened about a year ago and in that time has become one of Belgium's most visited museums. It is an open house. Only access to the museum rooms are at a charge, the rooftop panorama and outer viewing areas are for free.

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This picture is the view of the MAS from the other side of the old docks. The name of the dock these ships lie in, is the Bonaparte dock.

It was built by Napoleon, who once thought of Antwerp as being a "gun pointed straight at the heart of England". His plans for a naval invasion of London (from Antwerp) were never tried, after he was defeated at Waterloo.

Still, Napoleon's investments played an decisive role in Antwerp regaining its position as one of Europe's leading ports, after centuries when the river Scheldt had been blocked by the independent Dutch, just a few kilometres up north.

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And I just love how the light glistens
in the vertical waves of the glass.

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