Interesting buildings and structures
Alcatel-Lucent Bell NV
This building is located in the Kievit district of Antwerp. It is the headquarters of Alcatel-Lucent, one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of telecommunications and network equipment.
The company was created on December 1, 2006 from the merger of the French group Alcatel and the US group Lucent Technologies. But the company had existed in the city under various names for 100 years.
In the Antwerp office, research and development takes place on a wide range of technologies that will shape the networks of tomorrow, such as fixed line broadband technologies, IP and video traffic.
It should be mentioned that one of the seven Bell research facilities is located here.
The company moved into its current location in February 2006. The building was constructed between 2004 and 2005 according to plans by the Brussels architects Jaspers & Eyers.
Copernicuslaan 50
2018 Antwerp
Tel.: 0032 – (0) 3 – 240 40 11
Anna Bijns House
The Anna Bijns House was the birthplace and home of the writer and poet Anna Bijns. As the house is privately owned, it cannot be visited. It is known as “De Cleyne Wolvinne” (The Little Wolf).
Anna Bijns (1493-1575) was born on March 5, 1493 in Antwerp and later taught at a school here. In her best-known work “Chambres de Rhétoriques”, she published mainly religious and moralizing poems as well as polemical rhymes against Luther and the Reformation. She died on April 10, 1575 in her native Antwerp.
Grote Markt 46
Train
station Antwerp train station is considered to be one of the most beautiful train stations in Europe – if not in the world. The current building from 1899 and 1905 was given a 186 m long and 66 m wide station hall made of steel – based on a design by the engineer Clement Van Bogaert. The hall got its height of 43 m not least because of the exhaust gases from the steam locomotives. The stone entrance building was built in the eclectic style by Louis de la Censerie – based on the models of the Lucerne train station and the Pantheon in Rome. The station was inaugurated on August 11, 1905 by King Leopold II (1835-1909) under the name Antwerpen-Centraal.
Beguinages
Beguinages were the residential complexes of the beguines in the Netherlands and the Flemish part of Belgium defined on commit4fitness. Beguines were understood to be women from the 12th century – often widows – who lived together and celibate Christian values without being nuns with a corresponding vow. They were partially persecuted by the Inquisition and transferred to the Catholic orders in the early modern period. Parts also joined the Protestants.
The local beguinage is a little hidden in the city center, which makes it an oasis of calm here.
Visitors can stroll between the small houses from the 16th century and visit the church of St. Catherine from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. as well as strolling through the garden with its fruit trees and the pond.
Rodestraat 39
2000 Antwerp
Boerentoren, KBC Tower
The Bauernturm (Boerentoren) was the first skyscraper on mainland Europe. The building of what was then the credit bank was opened in 1932. Nowadays, after restoration work between 1970 and 1975, it has a height of 97 m with 25 floors and a height of 97 m, originally it was only 87.5 m.
The plans for the building, which was erected in Art Deco, come from the Belgian architects Émile Van Averbeke (1876-1946), Joseph Smolderen (1889-1973) and Jan Vanhoenacker (1875-1958).
The name of the building comes from the fact that most of the credit bank’s customers were farmers. The building is used by the credit bank’s successor, the KBC Group.
Eiermarkt 20
Email: [email protected]
Braemhuis
The Braemhuis of the important Belgian architect and professor René Braem Anthony (1910-2001) was built by him and his wife between 1957 and 1958.
After 1999, Braem gave the building to the public sector so that it could be used as a kind of “house museum”. The house and its interior reflect the architecture of the post-war period in a special way.
The visitor will find furniture in Italian and Danish design, office furniture made of metal and his drawing tables. A number of Braem’s sculptural works are also on display.
The architecture archive contains several hundred sketchbooks and several thousand architectural drawings by him.
After the Horta Museum in Brussels, this museum is a successful example of the representation of Belgian post-war architecture.
Menegemlei 23
2100 Antwerp-Deurne
Huis Guiette
The Huis Guiette is an early example of the architectural style of modernism. It was designed in 1926 by the Franco-Swiss architect Le Corbusier (1887-1965) and is the only building in Belgium that was designed by Le Corbusier.
The house was then completed in 1927 as the home and studio of the Belgian painter René Guiette (1893-1976). In 1985 it was extensively renovated by Antwerp-born architect Georges Baines (1925-2013).
The privately used building is now a listed building and is not accessible to the public.
Populationslaan 32
Cultural center deSingel
The deSingel complex houses an international art and culture center in its buildings. The center is an open house for contemporary art and houses architecture, dance, music and theater in its building. The beginnings go back to plans by the architect Léon Stynen (1899-1990), whose ideas in 1968 led to a building with a timeless architectural appearance. In 1980 the Red Hall – a hall for theater, dance and music theater – and the Blue Hall – a concert hall – were added and the house increasingly developed into an international art center. The official opening took place on November 4, 1980 in the presence of the then royal couple. Also worth mentioning are the Small Hall – a flexible multi-corner hall – and the Black Hall – a classroom for students at the Conservatory. It is interesting that Radio 2 Antwerp is based here, as well as a new restaurant and bar, an exhibition room, a multimedia room, an art shop, a theater, a dance studio and rehearsal rooms for music ensembles.
Desguinlei 25
2018 Antwerp
Tel.: 0032 – (0) 3 – 24 828 28
New Arcades
The New Arcades (Nieuwe Gaanderij) were built immediately after the war and connect the Huidevettersstraat and the Korte Gasthuisstraat.
In this relatively small shopping center you will find boutiques but also a well-stocked optician and a jewelry shop.
The shopping center is particularly noteworthy as a post-war building from 1945.
2000 Antwerp
Oudaan Police Tower
The police tower is now an administrative building, which was built between 1952 and 1967 according to the plans of the important architect and professor René Braem Anthony (1910-2001) from Antwerp,
Everdijstraat – Oudaan 5
Town hall
The town hall with its magnificent 67 m long facade occupies the west side of the “Grote Markt”. The original building dates from 1564. After a fire as a result of the Spanish invasion, only the outer walls of the building were left.
The town hall was repaired again in 1579 and was affected by various renovations until the 19th century. The building is considered an outstanding example of the Brabant Renaissance.
Grote Markt
Sankt-Anna-Tunnel
The Sankt-Anna-Tunnel (Sint-Anna-Tunnel) is a 570m long pedestrian and bicycle tunnel that leads under the Scheldt. The inner diameter of the tunnel is 4.30 m
and two wooden escalators lead to the tunnel tube to a depth of 31 m below the surface of the earth.
The entrance on the left bank of the Scheldt in Linkeroever is next to a car park – near the Van Eeden metro station. The entrance on the old town side is on Sint-Jansvliet. The two entrance buildings are made of yellow bricks.
After the First World War, a new district with high-rise buildings and terraced houses was built on the left bank of the Scheldt opposite the historic city center.
The Sankt Anna Tunnel was built in the 1930s together with the Waasland road tunnel to connect the district with the city center. Both tunnels were inaugurated on September 10, 1933.
German units severely damaged the tunnel in the course of their retreat battles in 1944. It was not completed again until 1949. An exhibition with pictures of the tunnel construction in the 1930s and the reconstruction after the Second World War can be found in the entrance on the left side of the Scheldt. The entire tunnel system is a listed building.
