Versterkte stad

Herentalse Vaart was built in the fifteenth century to supply Antwerp with pure drinking water. The canal disappeared in the nineteenth century.

Thirty-seven skeletons were found in Tabaksvest during excavations. One of the skeletons was a young woman with a gold coin in between her ribs.

The palace in Meir was built in 1745 and was subsequently transformed into an imperial and royal residence respectively, after which it finally became a palace for the public.

One century after the quays were re-aligned by Napoleon, the port was deemed unsuitable for navigation. The re-alignment works lasted from 1877 until 1887. The medieval fortress was demolished in the process.

On 4 November 1576, mutinous soldiers sacked Antwerp, destroying the port and buildings, and killing thousands of the city's inhabitants.

Actually Antwerp never was a hanseatic city. However, the German Hanseatic League owned two buildings here from 1468 onwards. In 1564, it built the Hanseatic House in Nieuwstad.

The Spanish ramparts were expanded in the south with a citadel in the second half of the sixteenth century. The citadel was designed to protect and control the city.