Visit the authentic Plantin-Moretus house and museum in Antwerp. It’s a wonderful 450 year old house and the Plantin family moved here in 1576. The family worked and lived in this house at the Vrijdagmarkt for 300 years. The house is called the Golden Compass. The Plantin-Moretus family turned the house into an impressive mansion. The family printed works and books and it became a part of Antwerp’s heritage. Edward Moretus was the last owner. He sold the house to the City of Antwerp in 1876.

History of the buildings

Early beginning

Plantin worked and lived in several houses and buildings before moving to the Vrijdagmarkt. Plantin lives and works at Lombardenvest as bookbinder in 1548. He uses his first printing press in 1552 when he is working in the Twaalfmaandenstraat. In 1557 Plantin moves to the printers quarter in the Kammenstraat and in 1562 he fled to Paris. His possessions were sold at the Vrijdagmarkt. With the support of his partners he is able to resume his business in the Kammenstraat in the fall of 1563.

Plantin is doing well and his business is growing. He rents three other houses in the Kammenstraat. In 1566 he has seven presses. Years later he is working in seven houses in and around the Kammenstraat. In 1576 Plantin is moving to the Vrijdagmarkt. At that time he has 16 presses. In the corner of his garden he opens a new printing shop. In 1579-1580 they start building new houses and transforms the old coach house into a fourth house. Plantin calls these houses The Silver Compass, The Copper Compass, The Wooden Compass and The Iron Compass. At first he rents out the houses as property investment. The main building is The Golden Compass.

16^th until 19^th century

In 1582 Plantin and his wife move to Leiden. There is a demand for printing works in this university town. He bought a house and moves to Leiden with several staff members. He becames the official academic printer in Leiden. Plantin’s sons-in-law Jan I Moretus and Francis Raphelengius run the business in Antwerp. In 1585 Plantin moves back to Antwerp and he is the main publisher and printer of the Counter Reformation. Plantin dies in 1589 and Jan I Moretus takes over the business.

The eldest daughter Margaretha takes over the business in Leiden. The other three daughters inherit the compass houses: Iron, Wooden and Silver Compass. Balthasar I Moretus expands the premises from 1620-1640. He adds a floor above the printings press room, built the east wing, creates the courtyard, add a large library and chapel. Around 1700 the bookshop moves to the building at the Heilige Geeststraat. Customers don’t have to enter the courtyard anymore. The courtyard became private and was not accessible by outsiders anymore. The family became a part of the nobility in Antwerp.

• 

• 

• 

• 

20^th  century

After 1876 the family buys a new house in a neo-classical style on the Vrijdagmarkt. This property becomes the Municipal Print Room in 1939. The building is interconnected with the Golden Compass.

The entire content of the Great Library was moved during the Second World War. At first the valuables were stored in the Chateau of Lavaux Sainte Anne. Later on, the collection was moved to the National Bank in Brussels. In 1945 a V2 bomb destroyed most houses on the Vrijdagmarkt. The Plantin-Moretus Museum was almost destroyed by the bomb. Only the east wing was damaged and later rebuilt.

The Plantin Society is a higher institute for graphic arts. It is established in the Plantin-Moretus Museum since 1951. The museum store is opened in 1995 after the purchase of the gatehouse at Heilige Geeststraat number 8. In 1992 the courtyard of the museum is replanted with herbs and plants that were cultivated around 1600. Antwerp was the European Capital of Culture in 1993 and the idea was to create harmony between the garden design and architectural design of the museum. The facades of the historic courtyard are restored in 2002. The courtyard is built in a Flemish renaissance architectural style.

• 

• 

The Printing Workshop

The printing shop is the heart of the Plantin-Moretus business. In 1575 they had 16 presses and a staff of 56 men; 32 printers, 20 compositors, 3 proof readers and one unskilled labourer. This printing shop was the largest one in the world at that time. Today, the shop contains two of the oldest printing presses in the world dating back to 1600 but they are incomplete and not working. There are six other presses and they are still working.

Compositor

The compositor worked with type cases in the printing shop. The wooden stands contain letters and symbols depending on the language and style: Hebrew, Latin, Greek, cursive, size of the font etc. The tiny letters are placed in a line. These lines became a column or page. One forme is a group of pages and is depending on the format of the book. An example of a forme are all the even pages in a book: 2,4,6,8,10 and so on. They put the forme on a wooden board and placed it underneath the press. After printing and proof reading the compositor returned the letters into the wooden stands. This way a compositor could make one forme per working day.

• 

• 

The Shop

Balthasar I moved the shop from the Kammenstraat in 1639. The shop still has a counter, cabinets and a money scale for weighing the silver and gold coins. Customers could enter the shop directly from the Heilige Geeststraat. Plantin printed a poster in 1569. It’s an index of Prohibited Books compiled by Benedictus Arias Montanus, the confessor of King Philip II of Spain. They worked together during this period. The index is a list of forbidden books. The irony of it all is that some of these books are published by Plantin himself, including works of Erasmus.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Portraits of Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens was a friend of Balthasar I Moretus. He commissioned portraits of the Plantin-Moretus family from Rubens. Plantin already died in 1589 when Rubens made his portrait in 1616. Rubens used another portrait of Plantin that was made in Leiden to paint his work.

The dying Seneca

Balthasar was a humanist and an admirer of Seneca and he asked Rubens to paint his portrait. Humanist saw their ideas and principles expressed in Seneca’s Stoic Philosophy. Seneca lived from 5BC -65AD and was famous as rhetorician in the Roman Empire. He was Nero’s tutor. Seneca’s position during Nero’s reign held great influence and power. Nero suspected Seneca of participating in a conspiracy against him. He forced him to commit suicide in 65AD. Balthasar was inspired by Seneca and commissionedthe the painting The dying Seneca.

The Great Library

Christophe Plantin created the Library in the 16^th century. Balthasar I and later generations expanded the library. The curators of the museum also expanded the collection. The library is organised like a humanistic library of the 17^th century. Books are categorised by size and placed on high shelves reaching the ceiling. The wooden busts represent saints and popes. The plaster sculptures are heads of Greek and Roman emperors and scholars.

• 

• 

• 

• 

The Courtyard

One of the reasons to visit the authentic Plantin-Moretus house and museum in Antwerp is to see the wonderful courtyard. The courtyard was already a tourist attraction in Plantin’s time. Prominent figures, kings and princes admired the courtyard. The garden is restored in 1992. The design of the garden dates back to the late 16^th century and early 17^th century. Plantin used to have a garden in Berchem around 1577. He was friends with famous botanists of his time like Rembert Dodoens, Carolus Clusius and Mathias Lobelius. In 1639 the courtyard is more or less the same as it is today. It was commissioned by Balthasar I Moretus. He ordered the courtyard to be built in the classical renaissance architectural style. Typical elements are the horizontal lines, cruciform windows, brick combined with sandstone and arcades.

• 

• 

• 

• 

In The World’s Jungle Archives

Visit the authentic Plantin-Moretus house and museum in Antwerp is the fourth article of Project Antwerp. I wrote an article of another amazing museum in the city of Antwerp: Rubens House. I started Project Antwerp during the Covid-19 lockdown to explore my hometown. Other two articles I have written are Monumental highlights in Antwerp and Unique theatres and cinemas.

Do you like history and architecture? Read the Beginners Guide to Architecture to discover the rich architectural styles of Europe. Interested in other locations in Europe? Read articles about the monumental highlights of Krakow, Stockholm, Texel and Paris.