Red Star Line Museum, Maritime migration museum in Montevideostraat, Antwerp, Belgium
The Red Star Line Museum is housed in three restored warehouses near the port and displays artifacts, documents, and photographs that chronicle the journeys of millions of Europeans who traveled to America between 1873 and 1934. The site processed and examined over two million emigrants before they boarded ships for the United States.
The site began operations in 1873 as a processing center for emigrants and remained active until 1934, when transatlantic migration patterns shifted. It served as the gateway where millions prepared for their departure to North America.
The museum tells the stories of individuals who left their homes through original letters, suitcases, photographs, and accounts shared by their descendants. You can see how families packed their belongings and said goodbye to everything they knew before departing.
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday and provides full wheelchair accessibility throughout all galleries and exhibition spaces. Guided tours are available in multiple languages to help visitors understand the displayed collections and stories.
The original medical examination and disinfection facilities remain in place, allowing visitors to walk through the same spaces where emigrants underwent mandatory inspections. Standing in these rooms gives a sense of what that anxious moment before departure must have felt like.
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