On Monday June 28th, an official groundbreaking ceremony in Antwerp, Belgium celebrated the start of restoration and construction on the Red Star Line harbor sheds in the old waterfront district 'Het Eilandje' (The Island).

Scheduled for completion in 2012, the project will transform the buildings of the famous Red Star Line shipping company, which brought more than two million passengers from the port of Antwerp to America and Canada between 1873 and 1934, into a new museum commemorating the emigration heritage site.

Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners, the New York-based architectural firm responsible for the Ellis Island Museum of Immigration, was selected to design the museum and is also coordinating the main exhibition design. 
 
For more information and images, please visit: http://www.redstarline.org/eCache/MHE/30/08/182.cmVjPTgwNzI3MTI.html

"First Stop on the Journey to Ellis Island," Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2010