Maagdenhuismuseum

Maagdenhuis Museum is an art and history museum housed in a 17th-century historic building on Lange Gasthuisstraat in Antwerp, Belgium. Its name directly reflects the building's original purpose — for more than three centuries it served as an orphanage for girls, known in Dutch as the "maegdeckens," or maidens.

What institution once occupied this building?

From the mid-16th century until the end of the 19th century, the building on Lange Gasthuisstraat functioned as an orphanage for girls and foundlings. Institutions of this kind were an important part of the social welfare system in historic European cities, taking in children who had lost their families and providing them with shelter, upbringing, and a basic education suited to the standards of the time. Over three hundred years of continuous use turned the building itself into a witness to the changing methods of caring for Antwerp's youngest and most vulnerable residents.

What can visitors see in the museum today?

The present-day exhibition at Maagdenhuis Museum tells the story of this place on several levels. Visitors can view a collection of everyday utensils that were used daily by the foundlings and orphans housed there — objects most directly tied to the lived experience of the children who grew up within these walls over the centuries. Alongside this, the museum displays a collection of antique furniture, offering a sense of how the building's interiors were furnished and equipped in earlier periods.

The third pillar of the collection is an extensive set of historical documents relating to the orphanage itself and to daily life within it, spanning the 16th through the 19th century. Archival material of this kind is especially valuable to researchers of Antwerp's social history, since it documents the operation of a single caregiving institution across several centuries marked by significant social and economic change in the city.

Why visit Maagdenhuis Museum?

What sets this museum apart is that the setting itself is as significant as the objects on display. Visitors step into a historic interior that, for centuries, genuinely served the function described by the exhibition — this is not a reconstruction or a collection of objects relocated from elsewhere, but an authentic historical space. This arrangement offers a clearer sense of daily life inside Antwerp's historic caregiving institutions and the role such places played in the city over the course of several centuries.

Where is Maagdenhuis Museum located?

The museum is located on Lange Gasthuisstraat in the center of Antwerp, Belgium, close to other historic buildings in this part of the city.

Frequently asked questions

What institution once occupied the Maagdenhuis Museum building? From the mid-16th century to the end of the 19th century, the building served as an orphanage for girls, known in Dutch as the "maegdeckens."

What does the museum's collection include? The collection includes everyday utensils used by the orphans and foundlings, antique furniture, and historical documents relating to the institution and life within it from the 16th to the 19th century.

What kind of building houses the museum? A 17th-century historic building located on Lange Gasthuisstraat in Antwerp.