The roof panorama
360 degrees over city, port and river — free.
Zinneke — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Luc Roymans Photography — CC0 · Luc Roymans Photography — CC0 · Luc Roymans Photography — CC0
MAS — the "Museum on the River" — is Antwerp's modern icon in the old harbour quarter (Het Eilandje): a ten-storey tower (2011, by Neutelings Riedijk) of stacked red sandstone boxes alternating with undulating glass walls — resembling the old port warehouse towers, the idea being that every floor shows itself outward through glass, so you rise on escalators winding around the building with ever-changing views. The floors tell Antwerp and the world: the city and its port (Europe's second), life and death across cultures, power and prestige, and pre-Columbian art — in a contemporary, comparative style. And the top: a 360-degree panorama over city, port and river from the roof, free without a museum ticket and open until late. Fifteen minutes on foot north of the Grote Markt in the regenerated harbour quarter with its restaurants — for everyone: the roof for the view, the floors for the museum lover.
360 degrees over city, port and river — free.
Rising around the building with changing views through the glass.
The port and cultures in a contemporary comparative display.
Hanzestedenplaats 1, 2000 Antwerp
Red Star Line MuseumThe Red Star Line Museum tells the story of the great emigration to America from6 minutes walk4.4
St Paul's ChurchSt Paul's Church is Antwerp's hidden treasure: the Gothic Dominican church (15718 minutes walk4.5
Snijders&Rockox HouseThe Snijders&Rockox House is two adjoining seventeenth-century houses of two fig10 minutes walk4.7
Het Steen CastleHet Steen ("the Stone") is Antwerp's oldest building: a small castle of about 1211 minutes walk4.3
St Charles Borromeo ChurchSt Charles Borromeo is the baroque Jesuit church (1615–1621) and the first great11 minutes walk4.7The roof and outer escalators are free and give the architectural experience and the view — enough for most visitors (half an hour). The museum is for those into history and cultures: the port and city floors are excellent. Combine it with the Eilandje: the Red Star Line Museum, Zaha Hadid's Port House to the north, and the quayside restaurants.