Author Description

The theme of Life and Death is one that affects us all. Antwerp's Museum aan de Stroom has devoted two of its five permanent exhibition floors to the subject, considering the great existential questions of mankind: where do we come from? Where are we going? What will happen to us after death? In the section titled On Men and Gods, visitors discover first of all the great diversity of interpretation and the intense need for rituals throughout the world. Subsequently, On the Upper and Underworld contains five hundred artefacts that illustrate the inseparable connection between life and death. They show how people, particularly those in Central and South America, dealt with and continue to deal with the worlds of gods, ancestors and spirits. The pre-Columbian archaeological collection of Paul and Dora Janssen-Arts is on display here in its entirety. It reflects the passion for these objects felt by European collectors.