social events at the xxxiV congress
8 September 2016 - Excursion to mauquoy & antwerp
Old history tour through antwerp
The Mayer van den Bergh museum was the first museum visited by the Old History group. This museum is being described as "the house full of art". The collector Fritz Mayer van den Bergh (1858-1901) was passionate about art and far ahead of his time. He had a nose for works that were of little interest to others then, but are universally admired now. His special field of interest was the art of the Low Countries from the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance (14th – 16th century), and he had a passion for Bruegel. At the time of our visit a special exhibit about ‘Divine Interiors’ showing inside Antwerp’s churches from the Age of Rubens with their ancient architecture paintings was on.
The tour then continued on to the Rubens House. A tour one would not have wanted to miss! The house was the actual one he, his wife and children lived in. Rubens had many talents. He was a brilliant and versatile artist, had a large studio, spoke several languages, collected art, designed his own home, travelled around Europe as a diplomat and was interested in science. You could feel and see where he got his inspiration for the light he so mastered in his paintings. The house, although well guarded, and made as a museum still has that home feeling and discovering possibility. On the second floor after walking through the rooms, one ends up in the last room and one does start to walk back to the stairs since you may not open a closed door in a museum. However I was stopped by a guard. "Through the door" he said. "But all the doors are closed". "Through the door" he persists. Well that was a first! You may actually open that heavy but beautifully carved wooden door! You may discover what lies behind! You feel you are discovering the world of Rubens and you feel welcome in his house.
Then came the walking tour of the city of Antwerp which included a lot of steps, two great guides and some remarkable views.
Photo: Food and a view, what more can you ask for?
It was then time to get back to the bus which would drive back the 74 participants... oh dear, were is participant number 75??? Thanks to a knight in shining armour (Hugo Maciel, Portugal), the last participant was found and the trip back to Ghent could go on.
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Go to Modern History in Antwerp (under construction)
Go to Mauquoy & Antwerp
Go to Namur & Jambes (under construction)
