Rubens House

In 1610, Peter Paul Rubens and his wife Isabella Brant bought a house with land on the Wapper. The artist would enlarge the house with a semicircular sculpture gallery, a spacious studio, a garden portico, and a garden pavilion. He found inspiration for this in Roman antiquity and the Italian Renaissance. Peter Paul Rubens and his family eventually lived in this beautiful setting for more than 25 years. The building, with its rich and antique-inspired decorations, was unprecedented in Antwerp at that time. Rubens' interventions gave the house and garden the appearance of a palazzo, an Italian city palace. He stored his impressive art collection there. After Rubens' death in 1640, his house remained an attraction until the 18th century. In 1946, the Rubens House was opened as a museum. In the Rubens House, the master created most of his works, such as the Descent from the Cross and the Assumption of Mary. In the museum, you will find among other things a self-portrait and the art room with a part of Rubens' art collection. The Wapper was not a square in Rubens' time. It was the Herentalse Vaart that provided Antwerp with fresh water. To fetch water from the canal, there was a crane that bobbed up and down and was therefore called 'Wapper'.

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