The City and Province of Antwerp Partnering on New Diamond and Silver Center

The City and Province of Antwerp will join forces to create a new museum and experience center for diamonds, silver, goldsmithing and silversmithing. The province has long been working on a combined successor to the former Diamond Museum on the Astrid Square and the Silver Museum in the Sterckshof in Deurne, while the city has had the ambition to increase its promotion of Antwerp’s reputation as a global leader in the diamond industry to tourists. The joint project should meet both objectives starting in the fall of 2017.

The Province of Antwerp had already purchased a complex behind Antwerp City Hall with a view to creating a new museum. “The Diamond Museum on Astrid Square had to go and the Sterckshof was no longer suitable as a museum location,” explains Provincial Commissioner for Culture Luk Lemmens. “However, we do not intend to simply relaunch it at the new location. We are aiming much higher. And we should, because with this location, cruise ship travelers whose boat moors at the quay, for example, will almost automatically pay us a visit.”

According to the municipal council, the new museum and experience center will meet a significant demand from foreign tourists. “Antwerp is and remains the leading hub for the diamond trade, but that is mainly a B2B affair,” says Antwerp’s Alderman for the diamond industry, Ludo Van Campenhout. “There is not much for tourists to see in the Diamond District.” The new location will not only offer a place for museum activities – such as temporary and permanent exhibitions – but also for lectures, a library and business events.