The Plantin-Moretus Museum

Christophe Plantin set up a printing house in Antwerp in the sixteenth century and it stayed in his family, working, for three hundred years, until the last descendant sold the whole thing to the city intact. That is what makes it unique and why UNESCO lists it: not a museum about printing but the actual premises, with the living quarters, the courtyard garden, the shop where books were sold, the type foundry, the correcting room, the business archives, and the presses themselves, two of which are the oldest surviving anywhere. The family were rich and cultivated, so the house is hung with Rubens portraits, he was a friend and neighbour, and the library is a panelled room of gilded spines. Walking through it, you can follow a book from cast type to bound copy in the rooms where it happened.

What you actually see

• The two oldest presses - the sixteenth-century wooden presses still in place.
• The type foundry and correcting room - the working heart of the printing house.
• The library - the panelled room of the family's own collection.
• The Rubens portraits - paintings of the family by their friend and neighbour.

When to go

Year-round and a good wet-weather option; it closes on Mondays. Mornings are quietest. Allow a couple of hours, more if printing history interests you, as the labelling is detailed and there is a great deal to read.

Honest expectations

It is a museum of process and business records as much as objects, so those without an interest in books and printing may find it dry despite its importance. The rooms are dim, deliberately, to protect paper and bindings. It is easy to rush and miss the point, which is the completeness of the survival rather than any single showpiece.

Nearby

Antwerp's cathedral, Grote Markt and the MAS museum are all in the centre.