Royal lights of the Benelux. The seventh day. Antwerp

Antwerp became our most unexplored city in the entire journey through the Benelux. Which is not at all surprising. We visited there after visiting Ghent and Bruges, the brain was already overloaded with their beauties and refused to fully work.
Arriving about seven o'clock in the evening and spending a little more than an hour, we could see only the very center of Antwerp, which was so deserted at such a late hour that added an unrealistic perception of what was happening. Therefore, if it were not for the photographs, it would be difficult to say unequivocally that we visited Antwerp.:)
To look in Antwerp is that - after all the second most important after the capital city of Belgium. And with an equally rich history. The exact date of occurrence of Antwerp is not known. At this point there was a fortified Gallo-Roman settlement already in the II - III centuries. And after a couple of centuries, the first mention of Antwerp appeared. The city is located mostly on the right bank of the Scheldt, and due to many of its ups and downs it is the river. Depth of Scheldt allowed to pass sea vessels, thanks to which already in the XIV century Antwerp became a major port of Europe. And after the discovery of America, goods and gold from the New World poured in here. This was the "golden" time of Antwerp. By the end of the 16th century, after the war for the independence of the Netherlands from Spain, Antwerp remained Spanish, and the seceding Holland and Zealand blocked the Scheldt estuary for shipping, Cutting it off from the outlet to the sea. The prohibition of ship navigation along the Scheldt and, consequently, the economic decline of Antwerp lasted almost three hundred years. Now Antwerp has made up for lost time - its port is among the twenty largest ports of the world and is the second in Europe after the Netherlands Rotterdam.
Our tour of Antwerp started on the promenade of Scheldt. Probably, the majority of autotourists begin their acquaintance with Antwerp from the embankment, along which the road runs and there is a huge number of parking lots, which is very convenient.

Antwerp lion on the waterfront

The Quay of Antwerp

Tourists who arrived in Antwerp by rail, were lucky no less, as they have the opportunity to see the real masterpiece of architecture - the Central Station. I confess, the embankment did not impress me. In addition, we did not even realize at once that this was already the historical center of Antwerp - the port cranes were sticking up near, and the opposite shore of Scheldt was more like a suburb.

The Scheldt River

There is also the medieval Steen Castle on the waterfront. It is said to be the oldest surviving structure of Antwerp. Its name ("steen" means "stone") the castle received because it was the first large stone building in the city. What has survived to this day is just a small part of the former fortress, which occupied an area several times larger. The castle was rebuilt more than once, the older fragments can easily be distinguished by a darker color.

Entrance to the castle Steen (Steen)

Near the entrance to the castle stands Long Wapper - a statue of a giant frightening two drunkards. According to legend, Long Wapper appeared at night and chased drunkards, while he became more and more, and, in general, liked to make fun of the townspeople.

Long Wapper

The Castle of Sten

Near the castle of Sten in the XIX century, with the expansion of the Scheldt and the construction of a new embankment, about 500 ancient buildings were demolished. But some have survived. Built around 1500, Meat House (Vleeshuis) originally belonged to the butchers' guild. Even the masonry of its walls is called "layers of bacon": a red brick, alternating with white sandstone, resembles bacon. In middle of the XIX century, the guild of butchers sold the building. And since the beginning of the twentieth century, it housed a museum that is still working. True, initially in it were presented different areas of art, and in recent decades, he began to specialize in music.

Antwerp Antique Buildings

Meat house (first left)

A couple of minutes walk from castle of Sten there is the main square of the old Antwerp, where the town hall and the market were located - the Great Market Square (Grote Markt). It is not inferior to the beauty of the Brussels Grand Place.

The large market area (Grote Markt)

On its perimeter are also the guild houses, but unlike the main square of Brussels, in the center of the main square of Antwerp is a very unusual fountain. He appeared there at the end of the XIX century and is a scene from the legend of Silvius Brabo, explaining the origin of the name of the city. According to the legend, the giant Druon Antigon settled on the shore of the Scheldt. All passing by the court, he imposed a tribute, and for those who did not agree to pay sailors cut off a hand and threw it in the Scheldt. But there was a hero - Silvius Brabo, sort of like the nephew of Julius Caesar, who defeated the giant, cut off the brush of his hand and threw it into the river. From here appeared the name of Antwerp - hand werpen, which in Dutch means "to throw a hand". However, etymologists assert that the name of the city came from a word similar in sound, in the translation denoting the deposit, the land by the river.

The Fountain of Brabo

The "airy" and very beautiful town hall was built in the middle of the 16th century in the Renaissance style. Although the original project was gothic, but while it began to build gothic went out of fashion. The façade is decorated with three arms: the Duke of Brabant with a lion, the Spanish King Philip II in the center and the Margrave of Antwerp with the image of an eagle.

Town Hall

On the main square of the medieval city, in addition to the town hall and the market, the cathedral was usually located. In Antwerp it is very near - in a small square with an interesting name - the Glove Market (Handschoenmarkt). The 123-meter-high tower of the Cathedral of Our Lady is visible from almost anywhere in the center.

The Cathedral of Our Lady

Portal of the Cathedral

Side entrance to the Cathedral

The cathedral was built in 1352 on the site, where from the 9th to the 12th century there was a small chapel. The main works were completed quickly enough for the monumental Gothic cathedral - in just 170 years, although it is still unfinished. In 1533 the temple was badly damaged during the fire. The restoration postponed the construction of the second tower, and later it was not there before. Because of the various historical events and the lack of funds from two identical towers on the project, one has remained unfinished. I would like the Cathedral of Our Lady to be completed, and it became as it should be according to the architects. In the cathedral are four monumental paintings by Rubens and other valuable works of art, which attract fans and connoisseurs of painting.

One of the towers of the cathedral is unfinished

In the neighborhood next to the Cathedral of Green Square (Groen Markt) stands a monument probably the most famous Antwerp, Peter Paul Rubens. The house where the artist lived has survived, although from the 17th century only the doors and decorative arch in the garden remained original, the rest was restored according to old plans and engravings. Now there is a museum in the house. We were not there, but if there was an opportunity, we were happy to visit.

Monument to Peter Paul Rubens

Hotel Hilton on Green Square

At the end of tour, we saw another attraction of Antwerp - the church of St. Carlo Borromeo. We saw only its magnificent baroque façade, the church was already closed. It was built in the beginning of the 17th century by a Jesuit order and was originally dedicated to the founder of the Order, Ignatius Loyola. After the abolition of the order in 1773, the church was dedicated to Carlo Borromeo, the former Archbishop of Milan. For some reason, the church of St. Carlo Borromeo did not get into our camera, there is only a small fragment of the facade.

Fragment of the facade of the church of Saint Carlo Borromeo

Unusual decoration of the facade of a house

Madonna and Child on the facade of an ancient building

In Antwerp, we hardly met bicyclists. On the waterfront at the parking lots, probably, specially for travelers is bicycle rental. Although compared to the Netherlands, in Belgium cycling is much less.

Bicycles for rent

Antwerp was the last city in Belgium where we visited. The next morning, Luxembourg was waiting for us.