Plantin-Moretus Museum
| Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex | |
|---|---|
| Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List | |
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| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | ii, iii, iv, vi |
| Reference | 1185 |
| UNESCO region | Europe and North America |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 2005 (29th Session) |
The Plantin-Moretus Museum is a museum in Antwerp, Belgium honouring the printers Christophe Plantin and Jan Moretus. It is located in their former residence and printing establishment, Plantin Press, at the Friday Market.
History
The printing company was founded in the 16th century by Christophe Plantin, who obtained type from the leading typefounders of the day in Paris.[1] Plantin was a major figure in contemporary printing with interests in humanism; his eight-volume, multi-language Plantin Polyglot Bible with Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Syriac texts was one of the most complex productions of the period.[2] Plantin's is now suspected of being at least connected to members of heretical groups known as the Familists, and this may have led him to spend time in exile in his native France.[3][4]
After Plantin's death it was owned by his son-in-law Jan Moretus. While most printing concerns disposed of their collections of older type in the eighteenth and nineteenth century in response to changing tastes, the Plantin-Moretus company "piously preserved the collection of its founder."[5][6][7]
In 1876 Edward Moretus sold the company to the city of Antwerp. One year later the public could visit the living areas and the printing presses.
The collection has been used extensively for research, for example by historian Harry Carter.[8] His son Matthew would later describe his research as helping to demonstrate "that the finest collection of printing types made in typography's golden age was in perfect condition (some muddle aside) [along with] Plantin's accounts and inventories which names the cutters of his types."[9]
In 2002 the museum was nominated as UNESCO World Heritage Site and in 2005 was inscribed onto the World Heritage list.
The Plantin-Moretus Museum possesses an exceptional collection of typographical material.[10] Not only does it house the two oldest surviving printing presses in the world[citation needed] and complete sets of dies and matrices, it also has an extensive library, a richly decorated interior and the entire archives of the Plantin business, which were inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme Register in 2001 in recognition of their historical significance.[11]
Collection
- a Bible in five languages: Biblia Polyglotta (1568-1573)
- Thesaurus Teutoniae Linguae by Cornelis Kiliaan
- a geographical book: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum made by Abraham Ortelius
- a book describing herbs: Cruydeboeck made by Rembert Dodoens
- an anatomical book made by Andreas Vesalius and Joannes Valverde
- a book about decimal numbers from Simon Stevin
- a 36-line Bible
- paintings and drawings by Peter Paul Rubens
- the study of humanist Justus Lipsius and many of his works[12]
See also
References
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Bibliography
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External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Museum Plantin-Moretus. |
Historic reviews, probably superseded by modern research:
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1 Listing shared with six other countries, which includes Belgium's Maison Guiette; 2 Listing shared with France; 3 Listing shared with the Netherlands, which includes Belgium's Wortel; 4 Listing shared with France 5 Listing shared with seven other countries, which includes Belgium's Spa; 6 Listing shared with seventeen other countries, which includes Belgium's Sonian Forest.
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