Rubenshuis

After Rubens' death in 1640, his home passed through the hands of various owners. In the second half of the 18th century in particular, some major alterations were carried out. Fortunately, a few decades later, people began to realise that the home of Antwerp's most famous artists deserved more attention. After many attempts, the city acquired the premises in 1937 and converted it into a museum. Its doors opened for the first time in 1946. Following the death of the German Rubens expert, Dr Ludwig Burchard, Frans Baudouin successfully acquired his extensive library and archive. The Burchard family imposed just one condition: that Burchard's life's work should be completed after his death. That task was therefore given to the Centrum Rubenianum. The delivery of the collection from London in three containers filled right up to the brim marked the official start of the Rubenianum, which at that time was still being housed at the Museum Smidt van Gelder. In 1968, the first volume of the Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard appeared. By this time, the Rubenshuis was increasingly reaching bursting point and was suffering from a lack of space, comfort and accessibility, so the idea came about in 2016 to link various buildings together to provide an overarching experience for visitors. This was the first step towards a merger between the museum and the Rubenianum, which took place in 2024. The Rubenianum will disappear as a stand-alone institution, but will live on and continue its work in the academic library of the Rubenshuis.