On the “Grote markt”, or main square, Brabo welcomes you into the atmosphere of a world city from the 16th and 17th centuries.  The renaissance guild houses on the triangle square are reminders of the glorious golden age. They have stepped gables and sometimes gold images represent the saints of the guilds which had its headquarters there. A number of those buildings are 19th century-reconstructions based on old paintings of the Grote Markt of which there are many.

Between the ancient monuments are the narrow streets and passage ways with the little houses that once belonged to the working class.  Step inside the Vlaeykensgang for an idea of what Antwerp looked like in the 16th century . You are in another era, another world.  Even the sounds of the modern city do not penetrate.  When the carillon is playing this is the best place to be.

The  town hall was built during Antwerp’s golden age as a symbol of metropolitan power, freedom and progressiveness.  Its architect  Cornelis II Floris  de Vriendt introduced a new  “Flemish-Italian renaissance style”, otherwise called the “Floris style”, a sensational new departure for the sixteenth-century Netherlands and  for abroad.  It served as a model as far a field as Scandinavia.

The eagle  on top refers to Antwerp’s function as a border province of the empire.  There used to be a Brabo statue but it was replaced by  a Madonna by the Jesuits.  Two ladies Justitia and Prudentia refer to the justice and wisdom of the magistrates.  The coat of arms are from the duchy of Brabant, the Brabantine lion, and from Filip II.

In 1576, during the Spanish fury, the mutinous Spanish soldiers set light to, the building.  But by 1579 it had been rebuilt.  In 1794 its the turn of the French revolutionaries  for  plundering.  In 1858  the building underwent a thorough renovation.  The inner courtyard which was originally open and served as an arsenal was covered.  The imposing council chamber is typical of this richly furnished civil building.