Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience
Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience preserves Antwerp’s books and magazines in the seventeenth-century Sodality building. At the entrance, a statue of Flemish writer Hendrik Conscience faces Hendrik Conscienceplein, while the former Jesuit setting opens into reading rooms, offices and collection stacks.
Its history reaches back to 1481, when Willem Pauwels gave Antwerp forty-one books. Fire destroyed the original collection during the Spanish Fury in 1576, but donations from printers including Christophe Plantin helped rebuild it. Today, more than one million books cover Dutch literature, Netherlands history, early printed works before 1830, Flemish folk culture, art and Antverpiensia, alongside children’s literature and book history.
The Nottebohmzaal adds an exhibition hall with an Egyptian cabinet and globes made by Willem and Joan Blaeu. Historical newspapers remain available on microfilm, while the reading room keeps consulted books within the library.
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