Interactive, immersive and surprisingly relevant, from Mercator to Google Maps.
MAP - Mercator is a museum that immerses visitors in the world of maps and cartography in a thoroughly modern way. What began as a classic heritage collection has now become a completely renewed experience museum. Historical highlights - including Gerard Mercator's original globes and the Lafreri Atlas - are displayed alongside multimedia, interactive installations and immersive projections.
MAP - Mercator is the only museum in Belgium entirely dedicated to cartography. It shows how maps help shape our view of the world, and how they still play an important role today in science, politics, technology and everyday life. The reopening is part of Tourism Flanders' wider Mercator Project, which puts scientists in the spotlight alongside the Flemish Masters as prime examples of Flanders' intellectual heritage.
Four zones, one story: what is a map?
The new permanent display consists of four thematic zones that move step by step towards one central question: what actually is a map?
Map Stories - on the stories, intentions and beliefs behind maps
The Map Trade - on craftsmanship, knowledge and technology
Worldviews - on how maps shape our perspective
Maps for Everyone - on how everyone today is a mapmaker
Each zone opens with an experiential element, followed by an in-depth display. This makes the content accessible to families, schools, researchers and international visitors alike.
Highlights include:
The original Mercator globes
The Largest Atlas in the World
An immersive 4D balloon flight through time and space
An interactive feature that shows visitors' own heads in different map projections
Now and coming soon at MAP – Mercator
De expeditie van Kapitein Kaart
Permanent
Lila Landkaart, de Verdwaalde Vlinder
Permanent
MAP - Mercator
De Pakjesatlas van Sinterklaas - een speurtocht in MAP - Mercator
31 October to 6 December
HERFSTVAKANTIE: Monsters op de kaart
3 November to 6 November
Free the Map
5 November
HERFSTVAKANTIE: Maak je zelfontworpen monsterknuffel
8 November
Dag van de Wetenschap
15 November
Instaprondleiding
22 November
Kaartprojecties door de eeuwen heen
3 December
Kunstveiling Warmste Week
13 December
Instaprondleiding
20 December
Accessibility
A visit is a memorable experience for everyone. That's why we offer tailored options for visitors with disabilities or specific needs, and their companions. Check our information to plan your visit.
Opening hours
Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed on Mondays
Getting there
By public transport: the museum site is located in the city centre of Sint-Niklaas, which is easily accessible by train and bus.
On foot: the museum site is within walking distance of the Grote Markt and Sint-Niklaas train station.
By bike: there's a spacious bicycle rack to the right of the entrance at Zwijgershoek.
By car: you'll find the Zwijgershoek car park right next to the museum site. Parking is also available beneath the Grote Markt or at the station.
Education
School visits to Mercator
MAP - Mercator's school programme lets primary and secondary pupils discover how maps shape our view of the world. In The World in Your Hands, primary pupils learn to read and question maps through the story of Mercator, impressive globes and interactive features. They experience how a round world ends up on a flat surface, and discover that maps always involve choices.
For secondary schools, there's The Map as Worldview, in which pupils compare historical and contemporary maps and think critically about power, perception and representation. Both programmes combine original highlights with interactive experiences — from the Largest Atlas in the World to an immersive 4D balloon flight — and tie in seamlessly with geography, history, world orientation and media literacy.
Silver partners
Bronze partners
Mercator Museum is part of the Interreg project (Be)Leefbare Schelde.
The Interreg project (Be)Leefbare Schelde aims to develop the cross-border Scheldt Delta into a tourist destination with international appeal. Its objective is to strengthen nature, heritage and visitor experiences while respecting the region. The project creates gateways (access points) and gems (unique locations), which are connected through routes and storytelling trails.
MAP - Mercator is one such gateway. Although it is not a nature reserve, it is a knowledge centre whose cartographic collection offers insights into how the region has evolved over the centuries. An interactive scale model, based on the historical wall map of the County of Zeeland, illustrates both the area's past and possible future scenarios for the Scheldt region. In this way, MAP connects the story of water, landscape and people with other gateways and gems along the river, inviting visitors to experience the landscape not only on a map, but also in reality.
The scale model features selection buttons for five scenarios:
Scenario 1: The Scheldt Delta in the 18th century – projection of the Ottens wall map (1725) onto the present-day situation.
Scenario 2: The North Sea flood of 1953 – large parts of Zeeland, as well as areas in Flanders, are flooded (source: Watersnoodmuseum Ouwerkerk, the Netherlands).
Scenario 3: The Scheldt Delta today.
Scenario 4: 2100 – a 1-metre rise in sea level combined with a 100-year storm (medium probability: 1 in 100). The Sigma Plan in Flanders and the Delta Programme in the Netherlands are put into action (sources: Flanders, Department of Mobility and Public Works, Hydraulic Engineering Research Division; the Netherlands, Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management – Atlas Leefomgeving – Third Round of the Floods Directive, 2025).
Scenario 5: The distant future – a 2-metre rise in sea level combined with a 1,000-year storm (low probability: 1 in 1,000). Low-lying areas along the Scheldt, Durme and Rupel rivers, as well as large parts of Zeeland, are flooded (sources: Flanders, Department of Mobility and Public Works, Hydraulic Engineering Research Division; the Netherlands, Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management – Atlas Leefomgeving – Third Round of the Floods Directive, 2025).
The scale model is linked to the historical artefact: Wall Map of the County of Zeeland, published in Amsterdam by Nicolaas Visscher and Reinier Ottens, eighth edition, 1725.
