Red Star Line - Tower (staircase)
Europe, Belgium, Antwerp, Het Eilandje, Rijnkaai, Red Star Line museum (uncut)
The Red Star Line museum opened some 6 weeks ago and tells the story about the Antwerp Red Star Line that from 1873 to 1934 took some 2 million ‘landverhuizers’(emigrants) across the ocean to the USA and Canada to start a new life. It isn’t primary a story about the ships but about the people that boarded them, their dreams and the long rite of passage they underwent to fulfil them.
This rite started at the ‘controlegebouw’ (control / testing building) of the Red Star Line where they were medically tested. And their belongings sanitized and decontaminated, for this enormous cylindrical autoclaves were used. The facility was constructed in 1922, the time when the USA was restricting immigration and still scared of the spread of diseases. The testing and sanitation process was rigorous and dignity stripping. And it left the people and their luggage smelling of vinegar-acid and benzene, the typical ‘emigrants’ smell’. The procedure as a whole was in accordance with American rules and was overseen by American inspectors. The incentive for the Red Star Line company to comply was having to pay for the transport of the people back to Antwerp that were denied access in Ellis Island, the place where emigrants landed in America.
At the museum not only the ‘processing’ of people and their belongings is documented but also the situation in Europe that made them flee our (then) troubled continent, their travel to Antwerp, the time they had to stay in Antwerp before being able to board a ship, their ocean passage and their new life in the promised land.
There’s a lot of audio-visual documentation – and self narration (recorded interviews) is an important element. And one can even experience the ‘emigrants’ smell’ the by two smelling tubes.
History is a living thing. So before leaving the exhibition area, one can add stories about emigration – the ones heard of and the ones (indirectly) experienced.
The museum is a definite must see and must experience. The structure of the exhibition and the architecture of the building are beautiful . But the main quality is that it gives one a thought provokingly multidimensional insight in the process of mass emigration. And the gap between the ”what once was” and the “what is now”, is easily bridged.
The renovation of the buildings, the, design of the tower and the exhibition were handled by Beyer Blinder Belle Architect and Planners. The same firm that handled the renovation of aforementioned Ellis Island.
The new concrete and glass tower aims to replace the landmark that was once formed by the large smoke stacks of the Red Star Line ships, the elliptical stairs leading to a viewing platform can be read as a play with evolving dreams and perspectives and there’s a bow like feel to the tower as a whole. A complex set of metaphors ;-)
Red Star Line - Tower (staircase)
Europe, Belgium, Antwerp, Het Eilandje, Rijnkaai, Red Star Line museum (uncut)
The Red Star Line museum opened some 6 weeks ago and tells the story about the Antwerp Red Star Line that from 1873 to 1934 took some 2 million ‘landverhuizers’(emigrants) across the ocean to the USA and Canada to start a new life. It isn’t primary a story about the ships but about the people that boarded them, their dreams and the long rite of passage they underwent to fulfil them.
This rite started at the ‘controlegebouw’ (control / testing building) of the Red Star Line where they were medically tested. And their belongings sanitized and decontaminated, for this enormous cylindrical autoclaves were used. The facility was constructed in 1922, the time when the USA was restricting immigration and still scared of the spread of diseases. The testing and sanitation process was rigorous and dignity stripping. And it left the people and their luggage smelling of vinegar-acid and benzene, the typical ‘emigrants’ smell’. The procedure as a whole was in accordance with American rules and was overseen by American inspectors. The incentive for the Red Star Line company to comply was having to pay for the transport of the people back to Antwerp that were denied access in Ellis Island, the place where emigrants landed in America.
At the museum not only the ‘processing’ of people and their belongings is documented but also the situation in Europe that made them flee our (then) troubled continent, their travel to Antwerp, the time they had to stay in Antwerp before being able to board a ship, their ocean passage and their new life in the promised land.
There’s a lot of audio-visual documentation – and self narration (recorded interviews) is an important element. And one can even experience the ‘emigrants’ smell’ the by two smelling tubes.
History is a living thing. So before leaving the exhibition area, one can add stories about emigration – the ones heard of and the ones (indirectly) experienced.
The museum is a definite must see and must experience. The structure of the exhibition and the architecture of the building are beautiful . But the main quality is that it gives one a thought provokingly multidimensional insight in the process of mass emigration. And the gap between the ”what once was” and the “what is now”, is easily bridged.
The renovation of the buildings, the, design of the tower and the exhibition were handled by Beyer Blinder Belle Architect and Planners. The same firm that handled the renovation of aforementioned Ellis Island.
The new concrete and glass tower aims to replace the landmark that was once formed by the large smoke stacks of the Red Star Line ships, the elliptical stairs leading to a viewing platform can be read as a play with evolving dreams and perspectives and there’s a bow like feel to the tower as a whole. A complex set of metaphors ;-)