Instant Cities: Antwerp

Antwerp › Places and landmarks

Places and landmarks in Antwerp

12 landmarks of Antwerp, and the streets, squares and waterways around them, each with its story and where to find it.

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Photo: APK, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Landmarks

Grote MarktThe square of the city hall and the guild houses, with the Brabo fountain in the middle. Brabo FountainThe Roman soldier Brabo throwing the giant’s hand away: the legend behind the city’s name. 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.

Also part of Antwerp

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.

Streets, squares and waterways

The places that hold the centre of Antwerp together. Point at one to find it on the map.

Grote Markt1 Handschoenmarkt2 Groenplaats3 Meir4 Wapper5 Steenplein6 The Scheldt7 Suikerrui8 Hoogstraat9 Oude Koornmarkt10 Vlaaikensgang11 Vrijdagmarkt12 Sint-Jansvliet13 Hendrik Conscienceplein14
The centre of Antwerp, drawn from the same OpenStreetMap data as the game. The whole city on OpenStreetMap
  1. 1
    Grote Markt square

    The main square of the old town, with the Renaissance City Hall, the guild houses and the Brabo Fountain.

  2. 2
    Handschoenmarkt square

    The little ‘glove market’ in front of the cathedral, with an old well whose iron canopy legend credits to the painter Quinten Matsys.

  3. 3
    Groenplaats square

    Once the cathedral’s graveyard, now a big square of café terraces around a statue of Rubens.

  4. 4
    Meir street

    Antwerp’s wide main shopping street, with the 18th-century royal palace, the Paleis op de Meir.

  5. 5
    Wapper square

    The small square off the Meir where Rubens lived and kept his workshop, in the house he bought in 1610.

  6. 6
    Steenplein square

    The square on the river around Het Steen, the oldest building in the city, with the statue of the giant Lange Wapper.

  7. 7
    The Scheldt Schelde waterway

    The wide tidal river that made Antwerp’s fortune. Raised promenades run along its quays.

  8. 8
    Suikerrui street

    The street from the Grote Markt to the river, laid over one of the old town canals, the ruien, which still run vaulted beneath the streets.

  9. 9
    Hoogstraat street

    An old street of shops and bars that runs south from the Grote Markt towards Sint-Jansvliet.

  10. 10
    Oude Koornmarkt street

    The old corn market, a street of cafés just south of the cathedral.

  11. 11
    Vlaaikensgang street

    A hidden alley of 16th-century houses behind the Oude Koornmarkt, where shoemakers once lived.

  12. 12
    Vrijdagmarkt square

    The square of the Plantin-Moretus printing house, where second-hand goods are still auctioned on Friday mornings.

  13. 13
    Sint-Jansvliet square

    A square on a filled-in harbour canal, where wooden escalators lead down to the St Anna foot tunnel under the Scheldt, opened in 1933.

  14. 14
    Hendrik Conscienceplein square

    A quiet square in front of the Baroque Jesuit church of St Charles Borromeo, with a statue of the writer Hendrik Conscience.

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