Antwerp, Belgium — Bella Via Travels
Belgium
Antwerp
Diamonds, fashion and Rubens
Antwerp is the most cosmopolitan city in Belgium — a port city of extraordinary energy, with a diamond trade, a fashion industry and an art collection that reflects five centuries of commercial and cultural ambition.
The Cathedral of Our Lady is the finest Gothic church in Belgium — a building of extraordinary ambition, with four Rubens altarpieces that are among the masterpieces of Flemish baroque painting. The Rubenshuis, the house and studio where Rubens lived and worked, is one of the most beautiful museum experiences in Belgium.
The fashion district of Antwerp — the Nationalestraat, the Kammenstraat and the Schuttershofstraat — is the most interesting in Belgium, with the graduates of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts having produced some of the most influential designers of the late twentieth century: Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Martin Margiela.
The food culture of Antwerp is the most varied in Belgium — the restaurants of the Zurenborg, the fish market of the Vrijdagmarkt and the chocolate shops of the Meir are all expressions of a city that has always been more interested in pleasure than in propriety. Bella Via designs Antwerp itineraries that combine the art with the fashion and the food.
“The Cathedral of Our Lady at dusk, with the Rubens altarpieces lit and the nave empty — it is one of the great art experiences of Belgium.”
What to Expect
The Bella Via Experience in Antwerp
The Cathedral of Our Lady
The finest Gothic church in Belgium — four Rubens altarpieces of extraordinary quality, in a building of considerable grandeur.
The Rubenshuis
The house and studio where Rubens lived and worked — one of the most beautiful museum experiences in Belgium.
The Antwerp Fashion District
The most interesting fashion district in Belgium — the graduates of the Royal Academy who changed the way the world dresses.
The MAS Museum
The Museum aan de Stroom — a tower of extraordinary architecture on the waterfront, with a collection that traces the history of Antwerp as a port city.
Antwerp rewards those who arrive with curiosity and leave with a deeper understanding of what a city built on trade and ambition actually looks like.