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24.08.2008

Antwerp is a city that takes time to get to know, partly because its districts have very different identities and characters, but also because each street within them can often be deceptive.

Sometimes you walk round a corner and the first impression of the street is unremarkable, but you quickly begin to appreciate the extraordinary mix of architectural styles. Then you discover that among the utilitarian shops are a bookbinder, a most enticing delicatessen or an expensive fashion salon.

Antique lovers soon discover Kloosterstaat, Mechelsesteenweg and Leopoldstraat and their concentrations of specialised shops. First-time visitors to Central Station are astonished by the soaring overall roof and the lavish decoration of its neo-baroque design by the Giles Gilbert Scott of Belgium, Louis Delacenserie. For the larger stores and chains, head for the busiest shopping street, Meir.

Of course it is Antwerp's galleries and historic buildings that attract people to visit the city, but even here there are some revelations:

• The Plantin-Moretus Museum is one of the most extraordinary museums in Europe, and a clue to its fascination is the very rare accolade for a museum of UNESCO world heritage site status.
• The Rubens House is a fine mansion with a beautiful garden  grand enough to be the home of the exiled William Cavendish, later Duke of Newcastle, after Rubens's death in 1640.
• The Museum of Fine Arts and the Rubens Chapel (where the painter and his family are buried) host a world-class collection of paintings from the 15th to the 20th century.

  24.08.2008

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