# History museum

![museum historiek](https://www.snijdersrockoxhuis.be/images/content/museum_historiek.jpg)In 1603, Rockox bought the house called Den Gulden Rinck (The Golden Ring), which is now number 10 Keizerstraat, together with the adjacent house at number 12, converting them into a single, handsome patrician residence.

After his death, the house passed to his nephew Adriaan van Heetvelde, with the stipulation that, if there were no descendants, it should be sold for the benefit of the poor. This occurred in 1715. Frans van Simpelvelt came to live in the house and had the Renaissance façade converted into the style then current, which explains the date 1715 on the façade.

Subsequently, the house passed from one owner to another and in 1949, was acquired by the non-profit association Artiestenfonds. At the prompting of Mr Benoit Reese, it was converted into a museum exhibiting chiefly neo-styles.

 The Kredietbank (now KBC) purchased the Rockox House from the Artiestenfonds in 1970. At the same time, under the auspices of the bank, the Stichting Nicolaas Rockox (Nicolaas Rockox Foundation) was set up, which was entrusted with the restoration of the property and which continues to manage it as a witness to a glorious past.

## Timeline

 | 14 December 1560 | Birth of Nicolaas Rockox in Antwerp. |
|---|---|
| 1566 | Calvinist iconoclasts destroy church interiors. |
| 1570 | Death of Adriaan Rockox, Nicolaas’s father. |
| 1576 | ‘The Spanish Fury’: Spanish troops plunder Antwerp. |
| 1577 | Rubens is born in Siegen, Germany. |
| 1579 | Union of Utrecht is declared. Antwerp becomes a Calvinist city. |
| 11 November 1579 | Frans Snijders is baptised in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp. |
| 1584 | Rockox joins the Antwerp civic guard. |
| 1585 | The Fall of Antwerp. The city is captured on 27 August by the Spanish general Alexander Farnese, the duke of Parma. |
| 5 September 1589 | Nicolaas Rockox marries his neighbour Adriana Perez. |
| 1593 | Frans Snijders is apprenticed to Pieter Brueghel the Younger and later to Hendrik van Balen. |
| 1599 | The ‘Joyous Entry’ of Archduke Albert and the Infanta Isabella. |
| 1599 | Rockox is knighted by Albert and Isabella. |
| 1600-1608 | Rubens spends period in Italy. |
| 1602 | Frans Snijders enrols as a free master in the Antwerp Guild of St Luke. |
| 1603 | Rockox is appointed burgomaster for external affairs for the first time. |
| 1609 | Frans Snijders returns from Italy. We do not know when he first travelled there. |
| 1609 | The Twelve Year Truce is declared. |
| 23 Oktober 1611 | Frans Snijders marries Margriete de Vos. The young couple move into number 17 Korte Gasthuisstraat. |
| 1615 | Albert and Isabella visit Antwerp. Nicholas Rockox is the burgomaster for external affairs at the time. |
| 1619 | Adriana Perez dies and is buried in the Minorite church in Antwerp. |
| 1619 | Snijders is admitted to the Romanists’ Guild – a select company of well-to-do individuals, the members of which had visited Rome. |
| 24 December 1620 | Frans Snijders and Margriete de Vos purchase the house ‘De Fortuyne’ in Antwerp’s Keizerstraat, next door to Nicolaas Rockox. They move into the building in 1622. |
| 1621 | End of the Twelve Year Truce Death of Archduke Albert. |
| 1625 | Rockox becomes burgomaster for external affairs for the last time. |
| 1635 | Gevartius, Rubens and Rockox jointly organise the ‘Joyous Entry’ of Cardinal Infante Ferdinand of Austria. |
| 1636-1638 | Led by Rubens, Snijders collaborates with other artists (including Cornelis de Vos) on the mythological decoration of the Torre de la Parada hunting lodge near Madrid, owned by King Philip IV of Spain. Snijders receives a parallel commission for 60 animal paintings. Further commissions follow for the Alcázar palace and clients in the Northern Netherlands. |
| 30 May 1640 | Rubens dies and is buried in the Church of St James. |
| 12 December 1640 | Rockox dies and is buried in the Minorite church. |
| 2 September 1647 | Margriete de Vos dies and is buried in the Minorite church. |
| 19 August 1657 | Frans Snijders dies and is buried in the Minorite church. |