, on the right bank of the Scheldt, near its mouth to the North Sea, and near the border with Netherlands (➤
map)(➤ map). The capital of the province of Antwerp, as well as the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antwerp and the Anglican Archdeaconry of North-West Europe. In the 16th century, one of the most important commercial and financial centers in the world, in the 17th century a city of painters (Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens, Antoon van Dyck, etc.). Today, it is an important industrial center, known in particular for the second (after Rotterdam) largest port in Europe, and also as a world diamond trading center. A tourist resort known for its many important architectural monuments and noteworthy museums.The first records of Antwerp in modern times date back to the 7th century. At the end of the 10th century, Antwerp became the capital of the marches of the Holy Roman Empire, bordering the county of Flanders (with the Scheldt as the border river). The following centuries were a period of rapid development of Antwerp (particularly rapid after Bruges began to lose its importance due to the silting up, at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, of the Zwin Canal connecting the port of Bruges with the sea). In the 14th century Antwerp was one of the most important commercial and financial centers of Europe and remained so until at least the mid-16th century, only to begin to lose its importance during the Eighty Years' War, and especially after its end, when - in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Münster recognizing independence of the United Provinces of the Netherlands - the Scheldt was closed to shipping, which quickly led to Antwerp losing its position as an important commercial center. Although Antwerp remained a cultural center in the 17th century (known especially for the painting school operating here), the city had to wait for a period of economic development until 1863, when the Scheldt as a shipping route was reopened. Today, Antwerp is the second (in terms of population) city of Belgium, the second largest port in Europe (after Rotterdam), an important industrial center (refineries, automotive industry, etc.), commercial, financial and scientific. Antwerp is also, as it was in the past, a world center for the diamond trade, and recently it is also trying to become a world center of fashion.
The Market Square
(Grote Markt), located near the Scheldt 
, is a square with a shape similar to a triangle, surrounded from the south-east and north-east by guild houses. Every year in winter, a Christmas market is organized on the Market Square. The western frontage of the Market Square is the Town Hall 
(Stadhuis), built in the Renaissance style (with Gothic elements) in the years 1561-1565, destroyed by the Spaniards in 1576 but soon rebuilt. In front of the Town Hall stands the so-called Brabo Fountain, with a bronze statue by Jef Lambeaux from 1887, depicting the legendary Roman soldier Silvius Brabo, who was supposed to kill a giant who once collected tolls from people crossing the Scheldt bridge.Near the Market Square, to the southeast of it, stands the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal), built in 1352-1521. Antwerp Cathedral is one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Northern Europe: its length (measured inside) is 119 m, the height of the vault in the nave - 27.5 m, the height of the dome - 43 m, the height of the north tower (with bells and carillon) - almost 125 m (the unfinished southern tower is twice as low). Originally, the interior of the temple has not been preserved (it was almost completely destroyed during the Reformation); the current baroque interior dates from the first half of the 17th century. There are four works by Peter Paul Rubens in the cathedral: The Raising of the Cross, The Descent from the Cross,
Resurrection of Christ, and Ascension of Mary.Other major churches in Antwerp include: (1) St. James
(Sint-Jacobskerk), built between 1491 and 1656 in the Brabant Gothic style, best known for the tomb chapel of Peter Paul Rubens and hundreds of other graves once important residents of Antwerp, (2) the Gothic (with a Baroque tower and Baroque interior) St. Paul 
(Sint-Pauluskerk), built in 1517-1639, with many valuable works of art (including paintings by Rubens, Antoon van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens) and the famous Calvary - a group of 63 statues and 9 bas-reliefs in front of the church, and (3) the baroque church of St. Charles Borromeo 
(Sint-Carolus Borromeuskerk), built in 1626 as a Jesuit church, closed in 1773 and rededicated in 1779 to St. Charles Borromeo, with valuable works of art inside (including paintings by Rubens).
marker stand for the Vleeshuis, a Gothic brick building of the former meat market. A museum has been operating here since 1913, with a collection of approx. 80,000 items including various types of objects, for several decades focused on musical instruments, as well as the broadly understood history of music and dance. During the summer season, the museum organizes carillon concerts in the cathedral. Just over 100 m west of Vleeshuis is Het Steen 
- a medieval castle dating from 1200-1225, the oldest surviving building in Antwerp. It used to be part of the city's fortification system, later it served various functions (including the National Maritime Museum, whose collections were moved to the Museum aan de Stroom, opened in 2011 
, a museum dedicated to the history of Antwerp as a port city, in particular its role in international trade and shipping, etc.); it is currently being adapted to serve the tourist traffic in Antwerp (tourist information office, shop, observation deck, etc.). The marker 
stands for the former stock exchange building (Handelsbeurs) in Antwerp, from the first half of the 16th century, restored in 1872; nearby, about 150 m south-west of the stock exchange, stands Boerentoren 
, a 26-story building built in 1932, considered the oldest skyscraper in Europe .The marker
stands for Rubenshuis - a former home and studio, housing a biographical museum dedicated to the artist, with a small collection of paintings including works by Rubens himself and other artists. Another important museum in Antwerp of a similar nature is the Plantin-Moretus Museum 
(Plantin-Moretus Museum), housed in Christoffel's former home and printing house Plantin, an outstanding 16th-century printer and bookbinder. The museum, considered one of the world's best museums dedicated to the art of printing, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is dedicated to the life and activities of Plantin, as well as his son-in-law Johann Moerentorf, known as John I Moretus, who took over the printing house after Plantin's death. In the nearby Rubenshuis art museum known as Museum Mayer van den Bergh 
(named after the art dealer and collector Fritz Mayer van den Bergh who lived in the years 1858-1901) you can see many valuable works from the Gothic and Renaissance periods in the Netherlands (including paintings by Pieter Brueghel the Elder).A little further from the city center is the building of the Museum of Fine Arts
, which has a rich collection of works of art, including a collection of paintings from the 15th to the 20th century, including paintings of artists such as Peter Paul Rubens, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Jan van Eyck, Antoon van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, and others; at the moment (2020), however, the museum is closed for reconstruction. To the northwest of the Museum of Fine Arts is the Museum of Contemporary Art 
(Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst), housed in a restored historic grain silo, hosting temporary exhibitions .
means the main railway station in Antwerp, the largest in Belgium, quite unusual in terms of architecture, built in the years 1895-1905, in a style that is difficult to define, called railway cathedral. Near the station, to the west of it, there is the "diamond district" 
, with numerous studios and jewelery shops, also interesting from a cultural point of view (because around 20,000 orthodox Jews live in this area, making up one of the main Jewish centers in the world).