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In the wake of Columbus. Antwerp books and prints around the world
18.04.2009 -> 19.07.2009
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For several centuries, the Officina Plantiniana and other printing firms in Antwerp exported a good part of their production to the New World and to other Spanish and Portuguese dominions overseas. This present exhibition is a testimonial to the major influence and interaction they had on book printing and illustration in the overseas regions up to the end of the 18th century.
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One of the things you can see at the exhibition In the Wake of Columbus is a selection of the first prints of exotic fauna and flora (e.g. the armadillo and cacao) ever to be seen by West-Europeans. The maps of Latin America drawn by the colonists at the beginning of the 1700s are equally fascinating. As well as unique works on loan from Portuguese and Spanish universities and libraries, you will have the opportunity to admire a number of works from the Plantin-Moretus Museum & Print Room collections and reserves.
The exhibition is held under the Gracious Patronage of Their Majesties the King and Queen.
Jan De Nul Company offers his support to the exhibition In the Wake of Columbus. Antwerp books and prints around the world.
Info
18.04.2009 -> 19.07.2009
In the wake of Columbus: Antwerp books and prints around the world
Museum Plantin-Moretus/Prentenkabinet
Vrijdagmarkt 22, B-2000 Antwerpen
tel. +32 (0)3 221 14 50
fax +32 (0)3 221 14 71
museum.plantin.moretus@stad.antwerpen.be
Open
10:00 –> 17:00 (tickets -> 16:30)
The exhibition is fully accessible
Closed
On Monday, except 1 June.
1 mei , 21 mei / 1er mai, jeudi 21 / 1 May, 21 May / 1 de mayo, 21 de mayo / 1° de Maio , 21 de Maio
Prices
€ 6,00 / 4,00 / 1,00 / free
Extra
Guided tours for groups
€ 60 + €3 administrative charge
Toerisme Antwerpen
tel. +32 (0)3 232 01 03
Book
Een wereld op papier. Zuid-Nederlandse boeken, prenten en kaarten in het Spaanse en Portugese wereldrijk (16de - 18de eeuw). Werner Thomas en Eddy Stols (red.) - Acco, 480 blz.
Un mundo sobre papel. Libros y grabados flamencos en el imperio hispanoportugués (siglos XVI-XVIII). Werner Thomas y Eddy Stols (red.) – Acco, 480 páginas
The Plantin-Moretus Museum & Print Room is the only museum in the world on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The story started in 1555, when Christopher Plantin founded his printing and publishing company. Now, more than 450 years later, the Museum is a splendidly preserved complex, a combination of printing firm, patrician mansion, archival depository and centre of humanism and the arts.
Hebraica veritas. Did God speak Hebrew?
16.05.2008 -> 17.08.2008
This exhibition takes you to the heart of the 16th century, the era of the humanists and a time of radical change. The exhibition spotlights the influence of the Hebrew Bible and takes a close look at the spectacular reversal in Christian intellectuals’ attitudes to Hebrew. At that time, the study of Hebrew, the publication of books in this language and new translations were a booming business. The businessman Christopher Plantin took advantage of this new market and acquired Hebrew type which is now the oldest and most precious in the world.
The starting point for this exhibition is the Hebrew Bible: what was its role in Jewish circles? Numerous other writings were involved too, including the Targum, Mishna and Talmud, as well as mediaeval commentaries. The latter were often written by hand in the margins of the earlier sources. After the invention of book printing, these Hebrew writings soon found their way into print. As did the Bible, which was an exceptionally complex undertaking.
Christian scholars’ interest in Jewish writings increased in the 16th century. The Hebrew language and the many Hebrew writings on or connected to the Bible, which until then had been unexplored territory, became the subject of a separate discipline. In Western Europe, the Hebrew Bible – or what we call the Old Testament – was only to be found in Latin translations.
There was an increasing awareness that by neglecting the Hebrew a major source of knowledge was being lost; Hebrew was after all the primary language of the Bible, on which later translations were based. A move was made to catch up and this suited the humanist philosophy that propagated a return to the true sources (ad fontes). Certain other Jewish mystical traditions such as the kabbala also fascinated people.
This led to the publication of many new books, and printers with a business instinct such as Plantin took advantage of the fact. The superb results include a number of impressive multilingual Bibles. Plantin’s renowned Biblia Polyglotta, the product of scholarly teamwork, is literally a ‘masterpiece’.
The exhibition also shows a marvellous collection of Hebrew Bibles and Bible commentaries. A great many of these works are still part of the daily lives of Jewish people. And you will discover that the museum possesses the oldest Hebrew lead type in the world. Lastly, dictionaries and grammars show the approach Christian scholars took to learning Hebrew, with the aid of their Jewish colleagues. They later wrote instructional books themselves.
The Plantin-Moretus Museum/Print Room is the only museum in the world that figures on the Unesco World Heritage list. The story started in 1555, when Christopher Plantin set up his printing and publishing company. More than 450 years later, the museum is a superbly preserved complex that combines a printing works, mansion, archives and a centre of humanism and art.
Info
Hebraica Veritas. Sprak God Hebreeuws
Museum Plantin-Moretus/Prentenkabinet
Vrijdagmarkt 22, B-2000 Antwerpen
tel. +32 (0)3 221 14 50
fax +32 (0)3 221 14 71
museum.plantin.moretus@stad.antwerpen.be
€ 6,00 / 4,00 / free
International conference: the Jewish book in a Christian world
25.06 -> 27.06.2008
This congress considers the remarkable transformation and spread of Jewish learning by means of printed books in early modern Europe and the Low Countries in particular. It will focus on the fruitful dialogue between Jews, and between Christians and Jews, that arose at that time.
Info
The conference is in English, admission free, enrolment required (limited number of seats)
Instituut voor Joodse Studies - Universiteit Antwerpen
Prinsstraat 13 L.400, B-2000 Antwerpen
tel. +32 (0)3 275 52 43
fax +32 (0)3 275 52 41
ijs@ua.ac.be
www.ua.ac.be/ijs/congressen
Tyndale's
Testament
Dates:
03.09 - 01.12.2002
Venue:
Museum Plantin-Moretus, Vrijdagmarkt 22-23, 2000 Antwerp (Belgium)
Opening on Monday 2 September in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp
(Evensong with the English Chamber Choir at 5.30 p.m., official opening
at 6.30 p.m.).
An exhibition catalogue in English, published by Brepols, will be available.
Curator:
Guido Latré (UCL en K.U.Leuven)
Organisation: Paul Arblaster (K.U.Leuven), Gergely Juhász (K.U.Leuven),
Andrew Hope (K.U.Leuven), Francine de Nave (Museum Plantin-Moretus),
Ronnie Dusoir (Museum Plantin-Moretus), Lee Preedy (design), Paul Gillaerts
(Lessius Hogeschool).
No
age has been more crucial in the building of the English nation than
that of the Tudors. It was a time of rapid economic growth and cultural
achievement, but also a time of religious tension. During the reign
of Henry VIII, there was a new sense of unity among the people thanks
largely to the first protestant Bible translations in English. For the
first time, people all over England heard a single English language,
as the Bible was read aloud in churches from 1539 onwards. This determined
a more or less definitive norm for a language unifying the nation: modern
English. In addition, the first Bibles in print and the published comments
upon them gave ordinary subjects access to new modes of independent
political thinking. This stimulated the growth of a modern nation which
in later times would be considered by many as the mother of modern parliaments
and democracies.
The
key figure in the translation of the first English Bible in print, the
so-called Coverdale Bible of 1535, was William Tyndale. Between 1526
and 1538, Tyndale, his collaborators, and indeed his competitors did
most of their work in Antwerp - a town which had sufficient commercial,
intellectual and political openness to allow the English language and
"nation" to develop fully. In 1526, Tyndale had been forced
to interrupt the printing of his first New Testament (translated from
the Greek) in Cologne, and to flee to Worms, where the book was finally
published. About a year later, he arrived in Antwerp, where he was to
stay for eight years. It is here that he revised his New Testament,
translated half the Old Testament, and published his polemical works.
In
the preparation of these, the Antwerp printers and the humanism of the
Low Countries played a vital role. No other town could have offered
Tyndale as propitious an environment as Antwerp. Unfortunately, even
here he was not beyond suspicion and persecution. In 1535, he was betrayed
by a Leuven student of English origin, sent to him by the Bishop of
London to trap him. He was coaxed out of the Antwerp merchant house
where he had been safe for so long, arrested by the armsbearers of Charles
V, incarcerated in Vilvoorde (north of Brussels), interrogated by Leuven
theologians and found guilty of heresy, and at the beginning of September
1536, he was strangled and burnt at the stake. One letter survives from
his prison days. It is the only surviving document of which we are certain
that it was written in his own hand. In it he asks for a warmer hat
and warmer clothes, and above all for his Hebrew grammar and dictionary,
and his Hebrew Bible.
This
letter is one of the documents on display in the exhibition, which also
allows us a glimpse into a number of valuable English Bibles (some of
them unique), into Tyndale's translation work, and into the political
and economic context in which he operated. Important printed bibles
in the vernacular are shown: the first complete French and Dutch bibles
and early Danish bibles, for instance, which were likewise made in Antwerp
in Tyndale's time. Tyndale was working indeed amidst hectic bible translation
activities in several languages. It is thus fitting that the exhibition
takes place in the Plantin-Moretus Museum, which houses the world's
oldest printing presses and tools, thus reflecting Antwerp's role as
a leading centre of learning and publishing in the 16th century.
Tyndale's
Testament tells you the story of how an Oxford scholar gave knowledge
and a voice to "the boy that driveth the plough," and how
his legacy survives in the world's leading language for international
communication, and in the political structures of our modern age.
Arab
Culture and Ottoman Magnificence in Antwerp’s Golden Age
The main
port of the Low Countries for much of the sixteenth century, Antwerp,
"the commercial metropolis of the world", was a thriving centre
of trade with North Africa and the Levant. But it was also one of the
principal centres of book production in Northern Europe and thereby
added a further dimension to the experience of the Islamic world. Maps
and descriptions of the East were published for the benefit of navigators,
travellers and merchants. A Polyglot Bible was issued which united a
team of scholars responsible for launching the study of Arabic in European
universities.
On the occasion of the museum's 125th anniversary and of '125 jaar Vereniging
der Antwerpse Bibliofielen', this exhibition shows a selection of magnificent
manuscripts collected by the first Arabists and their Dutch pupils,
the publications produced by Raphelengius' Officina Plantiniana in Leiden,
and the spread of Arabic studies. But it also illustrates the impact
of the various printed products of Antwerp and the crucial role of Christopher
Plantin, and of Antwerp in contributing to a growing understanding of
Arab culture and the greater toleration which that entailed.
Catalogue
(English) by Alastair Hamilton: hardback, 148 pages, over 50 colour
illustrations (including 20 double-page), notes, catalogue list, bibliography
and index. Available at the museum shop. Price: 100 €
Catalogue (Dutch/Arabic), sofback, 180 pages: Price: 40 €
In association
with The Arcadian Library, London.
The exhibition is led by Prof. Dr. Alastair Hamilton, R.U. Leiden
Catalogue
(English and Dutch/Arabic) by Prof. Alastair Hamilton available at the
Plantin-Moretus Museum.
