The Nottebohm Room

The Nottebohm Room is a hidden gem. The first 150,000 items in the library’s catalogue are preserved here in a breath-taking, historical setting. The doors only swing open for exhibitions, lectures, concerts or guided tours. And when they do, it’s like a breath of magic.

Priorities

The Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library is the reference library for anyone interested in finding out more about Antwerp, Dutch literature or the Flemish cultural heritage.

Cultural and general history

The Heritage Library collects publications on general history and on the history of art and culture in Flanders and the Low Countries.

Reading Room

Our library has a large collection of early printed books, long-forgotten periodicals and extensive reference works. While we do not loan these works, you can take a closer look at them in our Reading Room.

The Nottebohm Room

As well as being used for book storage and as an exhibition space, the Nottebohm Room is also the place where some of the highlights of the collection are kept. It is only open to individual visitors from July 1 until September 15, 2025.

Treasures of the Nottebohm Room

Guided tour for groups

Visit one of the most beautiful and prestigious library spaces with your association or group. A guide will take you through the history of the building and explain the special books kept there.

Painters & Writers: 50 years of gallery De Zwarte Panter

Gallery De Zwarte Panter has reached its fiftieth year. Painters & Writers provides an impressive overview of 117 book illustration collections and artists’ books that have been published since the gallery's opening.

Travel grant to Antwerp awarded to two international researchers

Earlier this year, the Plantin-Moretus Museum and the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library launched a fellowship programme for research into the history of the early printed book (15th-18th century) in Antwerp. Today this scholarship is granted for the first time.

Verhoeven newspapers digitized

The Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library has a large collection of newspapers. A highlight is the collection of early newspapers published by the Antwerp engraver and printer Abraham Verhoeven (1575-1652). All of Verhoeven’s publications in our collection have been digitized.

Out and about in Antwerp

There is always something to discover in a diverse city like Antwerp. Maybe you think that you know all of the secrets of Antwerp or maybe you are a newcomer. It doesn’t matter how well you know Antwerp because we will let you discover a different side of the city’s many tourist attractions and will take you on a tour of the Eilandje, the new trendy district. So Antwerp continues to be an adventure for everyone!