After a topsy-turvy history, Belgium’s second city – and main Flemish stronghold – might just be entering another golden age. Restocked with museums and powered by its super-port, modern-day Antwerp is also a magnet for fashionistas, foodies and free-thinkers.
In the late 1400s, a boom in westwards trade allied with Antwerp’s straightforward sea access up the Scheldt River saw this small, fortified settlement reborn as a powerful trading post. Glorious mansions sprung up, the ruling Habsburgs visited often and one of Europe’s major cities quickly took form; befittingly, it also boasted one of the continent’s A-list artists in Pieter Paul Rubens.
The ensuing centuries were less kind, bringing a war-ridden Spanish occupation
