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Home > Venues > Snijders&Rockox House
Snijders&Rockox House
©
Erwin Donvil

Snijders&Rockox House

Curious about life in the 16th and 17th centuries? Do you like to peek in through your neighbours’ windows? Do you like to find surprises behind the closed doors of previously inhabited rooms? If so, Nicolaas and Frans are your ideal hosts, who’ll share all of their secrets with you. Can you visit the 16th and 17th centuries in a modern way? Yes, you can. You’ll have a memorable time going round the Snijders&Rockox House with the help of iPads, interactive screens and fascinating films. And don’t forget the delightful enclosed garden, where you can rest a moment and enjoy the sounds of the city.

The Snijders&Rockox House is comprised of two historical homes that now serve as a museum, but their architectural prestige and Renaissance splendour are as surprising as ever. It is located on Keizerstraat, which is Antwerp’s former residential district. Together with the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe (Our Lady’s) House opposite and the Emperor’s Chapel (Keizerskapel) further up the street, they are a reminder of the fascinating 17th century.

3 reasons why this is worth your visit

  • Historical residences are better at bringing works of art to life than other museums.
  • Fascinating exhibitions in the historical houses themselves supplement Antwerp’s history in a compelling way.
  • The Renaissance garden offers a breath of fresh air and a taste of urban stillness amid an evocation of the early 17th century.
Keizerstraat 10, 2000 Antwerpen

The Snyders&Rockox House, both the historical residences and the art collection they house, is the starting point for a dialogue with the community and heritage of Antwerp in the second half of the 16th century and first half of the 17th century. Incidentally, several of Antwerp’s museums represent a key figure from that period. In the case of the Snyders&Rockox House Museum, they are Mayor Nicolaas Rockox (1560–1640) and the painter Frans Snyders (1578–1657). Rockox’s social and political engagement make him a symbol of leadership, image, networking and enterprise. His cultural achievements were also remarkable. Frans Snyders was a craftsman who stood for creativity, quality and cooperation. By drawing on this past, we can build a bridge to the present and the future. We remain innovative and we narrate this gripping history through both tangible and intangible evidence in a contemporary way to a wide audience.

We present and interpret, and we tell the story based on an art collection that continues to be built up and which is regularly supplemented by long-term loans. Temporary projects, such as exhibitions, enable us to perform scholarly research that enhances our understanding of society in the Southern Netherlands during the Renaissance and baroque eras. The emphasis within our collection at the Snyders&Rockox House is on paintings by renowned artists, such as Jan van Hemessen, Hans Bol and Maerten de Vos in the 16th century and Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens in the 17th century. At the same time, sculpture, furniture and other objects in silver, porcelain and earthenware have been integrated into these patricians’ former chambers in order to simulate their everyday world.

Prior to 2017, only the Rockox House Museum had been opened up to the public – seven rooms on the ground floor and the reconstruction of a Renaissance garden. KBC’s connection with Antwerp led the banking and insurance company to add the adjacent Snyders House to the existing museum in the spring of 2018, and also to open part of the upper floor of the Rockox House. In doing so, we were able to introduce another patrician from this vital period in Antwerp’s history, while also creating a separate exhibition space. This has given us even more scope to tell the story of the city in greater and wider detail.

The Snyders&Rockox House is a unique patrician’s residence – the perfect witness to a long-lost era and a setting in which art works and objects are brought to life. The facades of the Snyders&Rockox House Museum conceal a history stretching back to the 16th century. The historical homes and personal stories of these celebrated citizens, as well as their contribution to the city of Antwerp, are rooted in that same period.

The Snyders&Rockox House Museum is the ideal starting point from which to get to know the Renaissance and the baroque eras in Antwerp. Having visited it, you can dive deeper into other related museums in the city: the Rubens House (architecture and the importance of the ‘Rubens’ brand); the Museum Plantin-Moretus (humanism and the dissemination of knowledge); the Vleeshuis Museum (musical culture); the Maagdenhuis Museum (social engagement); and the Museum Mayer van den Bergh (another collector with a powerful vision), to mention just the best known.

Contact details for visitors
https://www.snijdersrockoxhuis.be/
Keizerstraat 10
2000 Antwerpen
Opening hours
Monday (except on Easter Monday and Whit Monday): closed
Tuesday - Sunday: 10:00-17:00
The museum is also closed on the following holidays: 1 January, 1 May, Ascension Day, 1 November and 25 December

Nicolaas Rockox – knight and burgomaster for external affairs – and his wife Adriana Perez purchased the house Den Gulden Rinck (‘The Gold Ring’) on Antwerp’s prestigious Keizerstraat in 1603. They bought it from a German merchant, along with a second home located next door. Rockox had the two buildings refurbished in the Flemish Renaissance style and added his picture gallery to the rear, which enabled him to have a lovely city garden laid out within the walls of his lavish patrician’s residence. The building can be traced back to 1532 in the archives. On 30 October 1640, the childless Rockox left his home to his nephew Adriaan van Heetvelde. The house was eventually sold in 1712. The date ‘1715’, which is visible on the facade, refers to the remodelling performed by the new owner. Many others also went on to adapt the building to their taste. Catherina van der Linden, who ran an antique business from the house, had the building fully restored by the architects Jules and Edouard Bilmeyer in 1919–20. The rooms were redone in revival or ‘neo’ styles and she had a second walkway added to the enclosed garden – a copy of the old one dating from 1560. A baroque entrance was added to the facade of the Rockox House, referring to the one at the beguinage in Diest. Both buildings in the Rockox House were given protected-monument status by Royal Decree of 9 October 1948 because of their public importance and their antiquarian and historical value. Catherina van der Linden sold the property in 1949, at which point it came into the hands of the ‘Artiestenfonds’ charity, which turned the revival-style rooms into fully-fledged museum spaces. KBC purchased the Rockox House from the Artiestenfonds in 1970. An historical inspection was carried out and the decision was taken to restore the building back to the appearance it had enjoyed when it was the mayor’s residence in the 17th century. This was followed by a thorough restoration process. Between 1974 and 1977, Joseph Louis Stynen and Richard De Bruyn got the building ready to serve as a museum. The Rockox House Museum opened its doors in April 1977 – a symbolic year, as it fell during the large-scale ‘Rubens 1577–1977’ commemoration. With seven rooms and a simple garden layout, it boasted a basic collection of art that had been assembled by KBC since 1970. The emphasis was already on using the museum to highlight the political, social and cultural importance of its occupant Nicholas Rockox.

The painter Frans Snijders and his wife Margriete de Vos bought De Fortuyne, adjacent to the Rockox House in Keizerstraat, in 1620 and lived there for the rest of their lives. The house was previously occupied by the Antwerp magistrate Marco Antonio Perez, a cousin of Nicolas Rockox’s wife, Adriana Perez, who had already died by that time. The Snijders residence was described as a house with a gate and courtyard. The main building had three stepped gables and an annex. The property was acquired in 1848 by the businessman and politician Jean Félix François Van den Bergh-Elsen (1807–1885), whose heirs commissioned the architect Jules Bilmeyer to thoroughly renovate the house. A subsequent restoration was carried out in 1976–77 by KBC, now the building’s owner, through the architects Joseph Louis Stynen and Richard De Bruyn. During the course of this restoration, its original facade was reconstructed. Due to their public importance, the gables and roof were granted protected status by Royal Decree of 28 January 1974. The bank initially used the Snijders House as a training centre, following which its stylish rooms served as multipurpose reception spaces. The Snijders House was integrated into the museum complex in February 2018, since when it has been called the ‘Snijders&Rockox House’. The most recent thorough conservation of the two properties – the Rockox House and the Snijders House – began in 2014 and was overseen by the Antwerp architects firm Rütger Steenmeijer in collaboration with the Facilities Department at KBC Group NV.

Is the museum accessible to wheelchair users?
Yes, the Snijders&Rockox House is fully accessible via a lifting platform and the elevator. Moveable ramps enable wheelchair users to move up and down steps.

Can I take pictures in the museum?
Do not take photographs with a flash. Selfie sticks are not allowed. Always ask permission for professional photographic and audiovisual recordings.

Are there applications that enable children to discover the museums in a simple way?
Children are given an activity booklet. There is also the ‘True or False’ game and the ‘Rock Rockox’ game that they can play on the iPad. Accompanying adults are requested to help their children do this, making it a fun family activity too.