Willem Dock

Napoleon wanted to transform Antwerp into a war port to defeat England. In 1803, he commissioned the construction of two new docks in Nieuwstad. Two canals were drained and the Boerenkwartier neighbourhood demolished, under the supervision of an engineer called Mengin. Two thousand labourers and prisoners of war dug up more than 1,000,000 m³ of soil. The first ship sailed into the dock via Bonaparte Lock on 1 January 1811. After Napoleon was deposed, the docks were used for trade. William I donated them to the city. From 1903, the Large Dock or “Groot Dock” was renamed Willem Dock. Nowadays it is used as a marina.