Museum aan de Stroom, Postmodern museum building in Eilandje district, Antwerp, Belgium
The Museum aan de Stroom is a 60-metre-high building by Neutelings Riedijk Architects on the Hanzestedenplaats in Antwerp's Eilandje district. Its stacked rectangular volumes are clad in Indian red sandstone set in a mosaic of small squares, alternating with recessed bands of vertical glass panes and steel framing. The base houses a long glass-fronted entrance inscribed "CITY ON THE MOVE", with a canopy and columns above parked bicycles.
In 1998 Antwerp's city council chose the Hanzestedenplaats for a new city, harbour and shipping museum, merging collections from the Volkskundemuseum, the National Maritime Museum at Het Steen and part of the Vleeshuis. Neutelings Riedijk Architects won the 1999 competition with their Stapelhuis design, the first stone was laid on 14 September 2006, and the museum opened on 14 May 2011 at a total cost of 56 million euros.
The MAS opened on 14 May 2011, bringing together collections from the former Ethnographic Museum and the Maritime Museum, which had been housed in Het Steen until 2008. Its eight exhibition rooms and the free visible store on the second floor hold objects from Europe, Africa, Asia, America and Oceania. A youth team, MAS in Jonge Handen, helps curate events.
The rooftop terrace and the walking boulevard leading up to it stay open until late in the evening and are free to enter, separate from the paid exhibition floors. The building stands on the Hanzestedenplaats in the old harbour on Het Eilandje, beside the Scheldt. The free Kijkdepot on the second floor shows about 180,500 collection pieces behind glass and in racks.
The glass gallery spirals around the interior and offsets each floor by a quarter turn from the previous one. Visitors experience a gradually changing perspective on the harbor and cityscape during their ascent.
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