- Red Star Line gets under your skin. You will get to hear amazing first-hand accounts of people who went in search of a better life on the other side of the ocean.
- Location, location, location. There is no better place to follow in the footsteps of the migrants than in the former port sheds of the Red Star Line, where passengers prepared for their ocean journey.
- Learn. A thorough refresher course of your knowledge of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century migration from Europe to America.
- Experience and share. You can also physically undergo the experiences of these “fortune seekers” who went in search of a better life in America. Have you personally migrated or did your parents or grandparents share stories about migration with you? Then this is the place to share them with other visitors.
- Migration and mobility are a timeless and ubiquitous phenomenon. The history of humanity is founded on it. The personal stories of migrants give this history a face.
- No “White Christmas” without the Red Star Line. The composer Irving Berlin migrated to the United States as a child. Discover the stories of other “historically relevant” travellers such as Albert Einstein or Golda Meir.
- No museum without art. The work of local artists such as Eugeen van Mieghem – whose paintings capture the life on the port quays in an unprecedented way – will be showcased alongside other unique nineteenth-century works of art, completed with recent work by Belgian artists such as Herman Selleslags or Hans Op de Beeck, who created work especially for the museum.
- Icing on the cake. At the end of your visit a tower, in the shape of a ship funnel, will allow you to enjoy a stunning panoramic view of the city. With a bit of imagination you can see the passengers boarding the impressive ocean liners, which moored nearby. They would have been able to catch a last glimpse of Antwerp has the ship rounded the bend of the River Scheldt.
- Meet the neighbours. The museum is located in the heart of the old museum district, which has been recently renovated and is now one of the most attractive areas in the city.
- Just a short walk into the city. Whether you like history, culture, shopping or good food a host of discoveries to suit everyone's taste await you within walking distance of the museum.
Why visit Red Star Line?
The Red Star Line Museum is situated in the old port district called ’t Eilandje. The museum is located past MAS, near the port, in an outpost of the city. This means you will have to travel farther to visit the Red Star Line but we want to assure you that it is worth pushing past your boundaries. Just read the following ten arguments and you will be convinced.