There were plenty of interesting sites to see in Antwerp. We enjoyed visiting Rubenshuis, a beautiful villa where it's estimated that Rubens produced an incredible 2,500 paintings from 1610 to 1640 with the use of his team of artists. Having just finished reading an epic about cathedral building, it was very interesting to go into the gothic Cathedral of Our Lady which took from 1352 to 1521 to complete. The maritime museum was housed in the gatehouse of the Steen, a fortress built in 1225 and the oldest building remaining in Antwerp. Our biggest disappointment was that the girls weren't old enough to go on the underground tour, although we were happy to be allowed to have a sneak peek as shown above. Apparently when the city expanded beyond the old city walls, the moat was built over rather than filled in. It was discovered centuries later, cleaned out and is now a popular tourist attraction.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Sightseeing in Antwerp...
There were plenty of interesting sites to see in Antwerp. We enjoyed visiting Rubenshuis, a beautiful villa where it's estimated that Rubens produced an incredible 2,500 paintings from 1610 to 1640 with the use of his team of artists. Having just finished reading an epic about cathedral building, it was very interesting to go into the gothic Cathedral of Our Lady which took from 1352 to 1521 to complete. The maritime museum was housed in the gatehouse of the Steen, a fortress built in 1225 and the oldest building remaining in Antwerp. Our biggest disappointment was that the girls weren't old enough to go on the underground tour, although we were happy to be allowed to have a sneak peek as shown above. Apparently when the city expanded beyond the old city walls, the moat was built over rather than filled in. It was discovered centuries later, cleaned out and is now a popular tourist attraction.
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