Must-see attractions in Antwerp

  • Belgium, Antwerp, garden in Peter Paul Ruben's house

    Rubenshuis

    Antwerp

    This delightfully indulgent 1611 mansion was built as a home and studio for celebrated painter Pieter Paul Rubens. It was rescued from ruins in 1937 and…

  • Interiors of Notre dame d'Anvers cathedral, Anvers, Belgium

    Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal

    Antwerp

    Belgium’s finest Gothic cathedral was 169 years in the making (1352–1521). Wherever you wander in Antwerp, its gracious, 123m-high spire has a habit of…

  • Museum Plantin-Moretus

    Antwerp

    The medieval building and 1622 courtyard garden alone would be worth a visit, but it's the world's oldest printing press, priceless manuscripts and…

  • Museum Mayer van den Bergh

    Antwerp

    Styled as a 16th-century town house, this superb place was actually constructed in 1904 as one of the first museums in the world built around a single…

  • 500px Photo ID: 83525221 - The MAS ( museum ) in Antwerp, Belgium. It has an observation deck on the 10th floor witch you can visit every day for free until midnight in the summer and 10 in the winter. It gives you a great view over Antwerp city and its harbour.

    MAS

    Antwerp

    Opened in 2011, MAS is a 10-storey complex that redefines the idea of a museum-gallery. Floors are designed around big-idea themes using a barrage of…

  • ANTWERP, BELGIUM, MARCH 5, 2014: Red star line museums attracts a lot of visitors willing to know history of one upon a time famous transport company.; Shutterstock ID 224863564; Your name (First / Last): Daniel Fahey; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Red Star Line Museum POI

    Red Star Line Museum

    Antwerp

    Over two million passengers sailed from Antwerp on Red Star Line ships between 1873 and 1934, the great majority of them immigrants bound for America…

  • Snijder-Rockoxhuis

    Antwerp

    Combining the impressive 17th-century houses of artist Frans Snijders and of Antwerp lawyer, mayor and Rubens-patron Nicolaas Rockox, this recently…

  • Brabo fountain and medieval houses in the Grote Martk in Antwerp. (Photo by: Loop Images/UIG via Getty Images)

    Grote Markt

    Antwerp

    As is the case with every great Flemish city, Antwerp’s medieval heart is a classic Grote Markt (market square). Here the triangular, pedestrianised space…

  • ANTWERP, BELGIUM - MAY 10, 2006: Machinery of city brewery De Koninck, beer brewed here since 1833. The Belgian beer culture is on the list of intangible cultural heritage UNESCO.; Shutterstock ID 564151312; Your name (First / Last): Daniel Fahey; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: De Koninck POI

    De Koninck

    Antwerp

    Antwerp’s historic brewery is both a temple to the city’s favourite beer and an evocative example of early-20th-century industrial architecture. Self…

  • Het steen antwerp

    Het Steen

    Antwerp

    On a riverside knoll, Het Steen is a dinky but photogenic castle dating from 1200 and occupying the site of Antwerp’s original Gallo-Roman settlement…

  • M HKA

    Antwerp

    M HKA is considered to be one of Belgium's best contemporary galleries. Its exhibitions focus on work produced since the 1970s by both Belgian and…

  • 500px Photo ID: 23880225 - The train is arriving.

    Antwerpen-Centraal

    Antwerp

    With its neo-Gothic facade, vast main hall and splendidly proportioned dome, the 1905 Antwerpen-Centraal building has been rated as one of the five most…

  • ANTWERP, BELGIUM-DECEMBER 6: Antwerp mode museum indoor   on Dec 6, 2014 in Antwerp. ; Shutterstock ID 237792160; Your name (First / Last): Josh/Vogel; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: 65050/Online Design/Josh Vogel/antwerp/if-you-like

    MoMu

    Antwerp

    Closed for renovation until late 2020, Antwerp's fashion museum has a rich avant-garde collection and typically produces exhibitions highlighting the…

  • De Vier Seizoenen

    Antwerp

    Four matching corner houses face off across a Zurenborg junction, with glaze-brick exteriors enlivened by fine mosaic work and triangular protruding box…

  • Maagdenhuis

    Antwerp

    This attractive historic building was an orphanage and child refuge from 1553 to 1882 and houses some fascinating objects from this time, along with a…

  • Stadhuis

    Antwerp

    Presiding over the vast Grote Markt, the 1565 stadhuis has a palatial facade blending Flemish and Italian styles in an innovative departure from the…

  • St-Jacobskerk

    Antwerp

    The tomb of Rubens is the reason most visitors come to St-Jacobskerk. Located in a small chapel behind the high altar, the tomb is adorned with Our Lady…

  • St-Carolus-Borromeuskerk

    Antwerp

    Rubens turned interior designer as part of the team that created this superb 1621 baroque church, designed to give worshippers a very visceral foretaste…

  • Diamant

    Antwerp

    An astounding 80% of the world's uncut diamonds are traded in Antwerp. Four dour exchange buildings lie along heavily guarded Hoveniersstraat and…

  • Antwerp Zoo

    Antwerp

    Founded in 1843, Antwerp Zoo is one of the world’s oldest and best-respected zoological parks. Enclosures in the 10-hectare site are state of the art and…

  • Graffiti Streets

    Antwerp

    Close to the art nouveau glories of Zurenborg, contrastingly forbidding Krugerstraat and Minckeleresstraat are so festooned in graffiti that they are…

  • Justitiepaleis

    Antwerp

    Designed by Richard Rogers, famous for the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Antwerp’s 21st-century law courts have a distinctive series of gleaming titanium …

  • Antwerp Port

    Antwerp

    Beautiful it ain’t. But its sheer jaw-dropping scale makes driving through the world's fourth-largest port complex an unforgettable experience.

  • Help U Zelve

    Antwerp

    Help U Zelve has arguably the city's most beautiful and harmonious art nouveau facade. Built in 1901 by architects Van Asperen and Van Averbeke as the…

  • ’t Bootje

    Antwerp

    Part of a 1901 town house called De Vijf Continenten (The Five Continents), ’t Bootje has a fabulous wrought-iron lamp but is named for its little ship…

  • Keizerskapel

    Antwerp

    Built in 1512 for the cloth-cutters' guild, this underrated little chapel honouring St Anne was given a major Gothic rebuild in the mid-17th century, from…

  • St-Pauluskerk

    Antwerp

    Strangely easy to miss despite its towering bulk, this church was consecrated in 1571 as part of a Dominican monastery, and thoroughly rebuilt after a…

  • De Twaalf Duivelkens

    Antwerp

    The architectural delight of the Zurenborg suburb goes well beyond art nouveau, as you'll see at this humorous 1900 chalet-style house designed by Jules…

  • KMSKA

    Antwerp

    In a monumental neoclassical building topped with winged charioteer statues, KMSKA holds a world-class collection of artistic masterpieces. However, the…

  • Les Mouettes

    Antwerp

    Though relatively modest by Zurenborg standards, Les Mouettes is a classic of art nouveau architecture with its curls of wrought-iron balcony detailing.

  • FOMU

    Antwerp

    This excellent museum of photography has a regularly changing roster of exhibitions from historical themes to no-holds-barred work by contemporary photo…

  • Waterpoort

    Antwerp

    This 'water gate' dates to 1624 and is said to have been designed by Rubens.

  • Sunflower House

    Antwerp

    This exquisite private house has a white facade picked out with small black iron swirls and two gilded sunflowers. It's the most striking of several side…

  • Handelsbeurs

    Antwerp

    The beautiful building that served as Antwerp's stock exchange from 1531 to 1997 fell into severe disrepair over two decades, but since 2016 has been…

  • Vlaeykensgang

    Antwerp

    This picturesque passage dates to 1591 and was originally a street of shoemakers.

  • Stadsfeestzaal

    Antwerp

    If walking between Antwerpen-Centraal station and the town centre, do peep inside this exuberant shopping mall within a 1908 neoclassical exhibition hall…

  • Sint-Annatunnel

    Antwerp

    Original escalators and 1930s tilework add interest to this 572m-long pedestrian and bicycle tunnel that cuts beneath the Scheldt River. You emerge at the…

  • Van Dyck Statue

    Antwerp

    Standing in the middle of the road, the great painter is dressed in britches and hose, holding a floppy plumed hat and gazing into space, apparently…

  • Statue of Lange Wapper

    Antwerp

    Outside Het Steen castle is a humorous statue of Lange Wapper, a tall folkloric ‘peeping Tom’ figure showing off his codpiece to two diminutive onlookers.

  • Rubens Statue

    Antwerp

    Presiding over Groenplaats, with Antwerp's cathedral rising splendidly behind it, this 1840s bronze Rubens statue was sculpted by Borgerhout-born…

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