The Maagdenhuis will be given a new temporary use. A part of the collection of the Mayer van den Bergh Museum will be housed in the Antwerp museum. In addition, two cultural and social organizations will also take up temporary residence in the building.

The Maagdenhuis is a historic building from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It used to serve as an orphanage for girls and is now a museum dedicated to the care of Antwerp’s foundlings, orphans and the poor throughout the centuries.

From this summer until 2027, the building will have a new, temporary role. The core collection of the Maagdenhuis will be preserved, but it will be complemented by approximately 60 works from the nearby Museum Mayer van den Bergh, which will close its doors in April 2025 for a major renovation and expansion of the building.

The museum will close in its current form on June 28. In the coming months, the building will be reopened to house Tutti Fratelli, a social and artistic workshop and theater group, and the socially engaged fashion studio Gatam. Then, in the summer of 2025, the temporary exhibition Public favorites. 43 personal stories from the Mayer van den Bergh collection opens in the building on the Lange Gasthuisstraat.

The long-term vision for the Maagdenhuis, starting in 2027, is a modern operation with a sustainable future, focusing on the cultural and social history of the Maagdenhuis site.