Peter Paul Rubens, Esther voor Ahasverus © The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)
March-November 2023

Expo

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Baroque Influencers. Jesuits, Rubens and the art of persuasion

22 April 2023 08:00 16 July 2023 17:00

€18 Regular Combi Ticket

Scroll down for an overview of all ticket prices.

A special exhibition at three historic locations forms the heart of the festival. It will allow you to experience the baroque in a surprising way. 

To win over their audience, the Jesuits developed a unique visual culture that was influential as far away as China. The central exhibition shows how the leading figures of Antwerp in the long seventeenth century thought, dreamed, worked and prayed.

One such protagonist was Peter Paul Rubens. At the request of the Jesuits, he created thirty-nine ceiling paintings in St Charles Borromeo Church. These were lost in the fire of 1718. During Baroque Influencers, we will bring that lost art treasure back to life at The Snijders&Rockox House. We will do so by using more than forty domestic and foreign masterpieces by Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob de Wit and Daniel Seghers.

Furthermore, the exhibition in St Charles Borromeo Church gathers devotional prints, etchings and books from the collections of various heritage institutions, including the Ruusbroec Society. In the Nottebohm Hall of the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library, you can admire a reconstruction of the rich interior of the Sodality and the baroque chapel it once was. 

The exhibition will be held in three locations: Museum Snijders&Rockoxhuis, the galleries of St Charles Borromeo Church, and the Nottebohm Hall of the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library*.

*The exhibition in the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library will continue until the end of August . The other two locations will close on July 16th 2023.

Location: Museum Snijders&Rockoxhuis, Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience & Sint-Carolus Borromeuskerk

St Charles Borromeo Church

Hendrik Conscienceplein
2000 Antwerp
Belgium

Open Monday-Saturday,
10 a.m. -12.30 p.m. and 2 – 5 p.m.
Closed on Sundays and during worship services (list below)

Visit the location’s website

Hendrik Conscience Heritage library

Hendrik Conscienceplein 4
2000 Antwerp
Belgium

Open Tuesday-Sunday,
10 a.m. – 17 p.m.
Closed on Mondays

Visit the location’s website

Museum
The Snijders&Rockox House

Keizerstraat 10-12
2000 Antwerp
Belgium

Open Tuesday-Sunday,
10 a.m. – 17 p.m.
Closed on Mondays

Visit the location’s website

Museum Snijders&Rockoxhuis and the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library are exceptionally open on a Monday on Whit Monday 29 May!

Exceptional closing times of the expo in the church

Because of worship services, the expo in the church will be closed on:

Saturday 17 June 2023 in the afternoon because of a wedding
Monday 19 June 2023 in the morning because of a funeral
Wednesday 28 June 2023 early closing at 4 p.m. because of a proclamation
Saturday 1 July 2023 in the morning because of a wedding
Monday 3 July 2023 in the morning because of a funeral
Saturday 8 July 2023, 2 – 3 p.m. because of a wedding
Saturday 15 July 2023 in the morning because of a wedding

Funerals cannot be scheduled far in advance. We apologize if you cannot visit the expo because of a funeral.

Partners:

University of Antwerp, Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library, Museum The Snijders&Rockox Huis, KU Leuven, Church Office St Charles Borromeo Church & TOPA.

Ticket prices:

€18

Combiticket € 10 per person for groups of 12 or more.
Combiticket € 10 for young people (18-25 years) and A-card holders.
Combiticket € 5 for holders of a Museum pass*, Antwerp City Pass or ICOM card.
Free for school groups, -18-year-olds, people with disabilities and holders of a teacher’s card.

*Holders of the museum pass have free access to the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library and Museum Snijders&Rockox Houses. For the combiticket which also includes admission to St Charles Borromeo Church, the rate is €5.

Buy your tickets in advance online, or on site at the counter of one of the venues.

Guided Tours:

Audio guides are available in St Charles Borromeo’s Church and the Nottebohm Hall.

The guides at TOPA and Experience Antwerp will be happy to accompany you on your visit to ‘Baroque Influencers’.

Tours TOPA:

A guided tour of St Charles Borromeo’s Church: visit to the expo and the church including a look behind the altar:
€85 for a group of up to 15 people, duration: 2 hours. Entry tickets for the expo are not included in the price.

A baroque city walk through the city without a visit to the expo:
€125 for a group of max. 20 people, duration: 3 hours

For more information: visit the TOPA website or send an e-mail to info@topa.be.

Tours Experience Antwerp:

A guided tour of The Snijders&Rockox House:
€ 115 for a group of max. 15 people, duration: 1.5 hours
More info & bookings …

A guided tour of the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library:
€ 115 for a group of max. 15 people, duration: 1.5 hours
More info & bookings …

And a city walk with a visit to the three sites:
only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, € 155 for a group of max. 15 people, duration: 2.5 hours
More info & bookings …

For more information: visit the Experience Antwerp website, call +32 3 205 56 05, or send an e-mail to info@experienceantwerp.be. Don’t forget to book your tickets to the expo, as they are not included in the tour.