Commemorative plaque V bombs

The first V bomb was dropped over Antwerp on 13 October 1944. It landed on the corner of Karel Rogierstraat and Schildersstraat. It killed 32 people and the building block that sustained the hit was demolished. The museum and a number of paintings were also damaged. The museum had a protective cellar, but the paintings had already been returned to the museum galleries after the liberation of Antwerp. During the Cold War, the bomb-free cellar was developed into a nuclear bunker. Nowadays all traces of the city’s war past have been erased. The nuclear bunker became a depot and an apartment building was erected where the bomb hit.