Antwerp, Belgium's Diamond

Both in material and artistic terms, Antwerp is perhaps the richest city in Belgium.

Third largest port and second largest diamond district in the world also second largest city in Belgium, Antwerp is, in the ultimate sense, "successful". Home to Rubens, Van Dijk, Plantin and Moretus, it also boasts of offering one of the largest gothic cathedrals in the world, containig some of the most prized and rarest of sculptures and paintings.

Deep water, a natural port on the right bank of the river Scheldt, caused Antwerp to be a Gallo-Roman settlement as early as the 2nd century A.D.This probably accounts for its name: "aan de werpen" (on the warves). But it is in the quality of its urban life, in urban services, as a liveable city, and not simply in terms of high income that Antwerp is successful, impressing city planners around the world. It is one of the few large cities to have preserved the attractive ancient architecture and traditions of its central area without sacrificing commercial progress or becoming a "dead city". Its entire inner, larger portion extending from the River Scheldt to the intermediate ring avenues of the Franreiklei, Amerikalei and Italielei contain scarcely a single skyscraper, and none of the blight associated with office projects.

People live, in large numbers, in the central city and leaven the commerce of that area with their presence. They enjoy parks and numerous open spaces. The poor live not in dehumanized, high-rise rectangles, but in graceful structures resulting from the single, most innovative approach to repairing war-damage, or replacing slum decay, in Europe: neo-medieval, four story townhouses along winding, ancient lanes, all of the most modern construction, but of abstract design approximating the style of the Middle Ages. In the project known as "Onze Woning" in the area of the Butchers Hall (Vleeshuis) near the Market Square, you'll be goggle-eyed at the unusual "social housing" (subsidized, low income-housing) that replaced the devastation caused by German V-1 and V-2 rocket attacks in WWII.

The Groenplaats

The Grote Markt is the most beautiful square of the city of Antwerp as well as the historical heart of it. The most popular square however, is the Groenplaats (Green Square). The square used to be a parking lot. But recently, the parking has been built underground, and the Groenplaats is rapidly finding back its charm of old. On warm afternoons it can be really packed with people (tourists as well as Antwerpians) who all enjoy a good beer (or something else) on the numerous terraces.

The Groenplaats is dominated by Our Lady's Cathedral. In medieval times the cemetery of the cathedral was located here. Around the square are numerous restaurants and cafés where many famous artists spent their time.. In the middle of the Groenplaats the statue of Rubens can be seen. It was made in 1843 by sculptor Geefs. The right side of the square is dominated by the late 19th century imposing building of the Hilton Hotel. It used to be the "Grand Bazar", one of the leading Belgian department stores. Behind the Hilton Hotel is now a pleasant and spacious covered shopping gallery.

Much like in most other cities in Belgium, the contrast in architectural styles is not absent at the Groenplaats. The Gothic tower of the Cathedral finds a 20th century answer in the "Boerentoren". This tower is the seat of the Kredietbank, one of the important Belgian banks. It was built in 1930 in art deco style. It is 97 m high and is considered by most as the first 'skyscraper' in Europe. The Antwerpians call it the “Boerentoren” (farmers tower) because the farmers were the most important clients of the Kredietbank in the first half of the 20th century.

"Our Lady" Cathedral

The chapel which stood here in the twelfth century was replaced twice until it became a huge church. It was around that parish church that building work on the present Cathedral started in about 1352.

The last vestiges of the original church were demolished in 1481. After 169 years of building the north tower rose up, like lacework in stone, 123 metres high above Brabant and Flanders. The largest Gothic construction in the Netherlands was complete. Yet this parish church did not satisfy the aspirations of the powerful and opulent Antwerp. Even in the year of its completion (1521) Emperor Charles V laid the first stone for a gigantic extension.

However, it amounted to little more than that, not least because work was brought to a standstill by a severe fire in the nave (1533). Today little remains of the original furnishings. The church, which became a cathedral in 1559, suffered not only from the fire but also from repeated plundering by the iconoclasts (1566), Calvinist purging (1581) and looting in the French period (from 1794).

And yet the Cathedral is still an enormous treasure chamber, preserving works like the "Descent from the Cross" and the "Raising of the Cross" by Rubens. Moreover, the architecture of the seven-aisled church has again been restored to its full splendor after twenty years of restoration work.