GROTE MARKT (MAIN SQUARE)

The Grote Markt is the heart of historic Antwerp. Here, visitors can look up at the sumptuous houses that line the square. It's not far from the cathedral.

Statue of Brabo. This statue, created in 1887 by Jef Lambeaux, one of Belgium's finest ^19th-century sculptors, stands at the center of the cathedral. According to a ^16th-century legend, Brabo defended the town from the constant threat of a giant. He cut off his hand and threw it into the Scheldt.

The houses on the Grand-Place bear witness to the rebirth of the city after the siege of 1583 to 1585. Most are guild houses (in the Middle Ages, a cooperative of merchants, craftsmen, etc.) dating from the ^16th and ^17th centuries. When Antwerp surrendered to Spanish troops, everything was plundered and ransacked. In the years that followed, despite the economic and demographic collapse, the houses were rebuilt as we know them today. And in the ^19th century, they were systematically renovated. As we see them today, they represent a synthesis of Gothic art (stepped gables, giving the appearance of a stepped roof), Renaissance elements (lattices, colonnettes) and Baroque influence (ornate facades). Note, at the top of the highest gable on the north face, the dragon still clinging to the ledge, whose suffering Saint George will end with his spear.