Antwerp › Places and landmarks
Brabo Fountain
Brabofontein
The Roman soldier Brabo throwing the giant’s hand away: the legend behind the city’s name.
Legend says that the giant Antigoon made every ship on the Scheldt pay a toll, and cut off the hand of anyone who refused. The Roman soldier Silvius Brabo killed him, cut off his hand and threw it into the river.
Hand werpen, throwing the hand, became Antwerpen, says the story. Jef Lambeaux’s bronze fountain of 1887 shows Brabo at the moment he throws.
More in Antwerp
Grote MarktThe square of the city hall and the guild houses, with the Brabo fountain in the middle.
City HallA Renaissance city hall from 1565, all flags and columns, on the Grote Markt.
Cathedral of Our LadyThe largest Gothic church in the Low Countries, its spire 123 metres high, with four Rubens altarpieces.
Het SteenThe oldest building in Antwerp, a castle on the Scheldt from the Middle Ages.
VleeshuisThe Gothic hall of the butchers’ guild, striped in brick and white stone.
GroenplaatsThe square at the foot of the cathedral, with a statue of Rubens in the middle.
Plantin-MoretusThe house and workshop of a great printing firm, with the two oldest printing presses in the world.
MeirAntwerp’s great shopping street, lined with palaces and department stores.
RubenshuisThe house and studio where Peter Paul Rubens lived and painted from 1610.
DiamondsAntwerp has traded and cut diamonds since the 15th century; most of the world’s rough diamonds still pass through it.
Antwerp handsBiscuits and chocolates in the shape of a hand, after the Brabo legend.