Versterkte stad

The Spanish citadel was a pentagonal defence. There was a bastion, a polygonal bulwark, on every corner. This is where the Toledo Bastion used to be.

The ‘Scheldt Free’ statue group commemorates the buying off of the Scheldt toll. The monument was created on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the re-opening of the Scheldt.

Waterpoort is something also known as the wandering gate. Since its construction in 1624, the gate has stood in three different locations, including its current one.

Archaeologists found traces in this location of early settlement and military defences from various periods.

Antwerp’s first parish church, which over time transformed into the large and powerful Saint Michael’s Abbey, originally stood here.

Napoleon ordered a series of slipways to be built near the present-day Cockerillkaai. They were part of the shipyard where a war fleet was to be built.

Under Napoleon, the French government built an arsenal for its war fleet, in the area between the Scheldt and Kloosterstraat, installing a shipyard and several workshops.