{"id":44040,"date":"2021-07-11T12:41:47","date_gmt":"2021-07-11T10:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/topa.be\/st-andries\/sak-kerkmuseum\/"},"modified":"2021-09-27T18:27:04","modified_gmt":"2021-09-27T16:27:04","slug":"kerkmuseum","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/topa.be\/en\/st-andries\/kerkmuseum\/","title":{"rendered":"SAK The museum"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Saint Andrew\u2019s Church<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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More than just another museum\u2026<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Opened in 2008, this museum wishes to be more than a room kindly showing valuable objects. It is willing to tell a story. Not the one of this building, nor that of the Church as institution, but the story of the Antwerp citizens, living close \u2013 or even in \u2013 this church.<\/p>\n

This story goes along five themes<\/strong>, build around the duality of poor\/rich. Thus referring to the social history of Saint-Andrews as \u201cParish of Misery\u201d.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Its parishioners, poor and rich, profoundly attached to their faith, gave this neighbourhood its church and treasures. Each of them according to his wallet.<\/p>\n

At a time when medicine was not really a science, saints<\/strong> were placed on a pedestal and invoked for any disease, physical as well as mental. Thanksgiving was then expressed with ex-votos, silver plaques or wax puppets, according to one\u2019s fortune. A quite special ex-voto is a silver canon bullet, in remembrance of bombings on the city, destroying near to 600 houses, during the independence war.<\/p>\n

Once a year the procession<\/strong> came out: everyone either followed it or had his house decorated. The central scenery displays part of that procession. The two top items are Our Lady\u2019s ceremonial mantle and Saint Andrew\u2019s vessel, a silver reliquary, under full sails. Vintage photographs complete this evocation.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The two social classes, rich and poor, are twice contrasted. On one hand two huge photographs<\/strong> of an alley and a street. Furthermore, a simple wooden chapel with Saint Rochus invoked against cholera in poor neighbourhoods and a large stone Virgin adorned with silver at the corner of a bourgeois street.<\/p>\n

The exhibition ends by giving to see what goes on behind the facades: the religiously inspired decor in the living room, straw or ivory depending on one\u2019s purse. Lace is a domestic industry. Further on, a priest brings the sacrament to a dying man.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"\"<\/a>With this concept<\/strong> parish priest Rudi Mannaerts want to give the visitor a contemporary witness to what was the colourful religious life in this Antwerp neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

Realised with the support of the city, the province and the Flemish Community, designed<\/strong> by Robert Buelens, interior architect and executed by Franky Security, the result is worth it.<\/p>\n

You can inquire for a guided visit via\u00a0+32 (0)494 11 65 28 or by mail at <\/em>info@topa.be.<\/em><\/strong><\/a> This visit can be combined with a visit to the church and the neighbourhood.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Discovering more:<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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