Middelheim Sculpture Museum

South of Antwerp's city center, just across the Ring highway, lies one of the cities' largest green spaces. It comprises several parks, including the Nachtegalenpark, Vogelenzang and Middelheim.
The parks were private property with summer residences for Antwerp's nobility until 1910, when the City of Antwerp decided to purchase the whole property.

In 1950, an international open air sculpture exhibition was held in one of the parks, Middelheim. The success of the exhibition, with more than 150 sculptures on display, gave the mayor Craeybeckx the idea of a permanent exhibition.

Today, Middelheim park contains an open air sculpture museum with a collection of more than 300 works of art. The park, 27ha (67acre) large, is divided into two parts: The Middelheim-Hoog, the most southern part of the park contains older works, the Middelheim-Laag displays contemporary work.

In Middelheim-Hoog, you can also visit some indoor sculptures in the Braem pavilion, built by the Antwerp architect Urbain Braem, a former trainee of Le Corbusier. The other building in the park is the Castle Middelheim, a 15th century farm which was converted into a Louis XVI style castle. This building contains a restaurant.

The museum's collection has a high international reputation. It contains works from Auguste Rodin, Rik Wouters, Henry Moore, Max Bill. The Middelheim park is at Middelheimlaan 61. Entrance is free.

Below a selection of sculptures displayed at Middelheim: