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178 Route 13 ANTWERP. Old Town:
(1220) and Jan I. of Brabant (1290) to Philippe le Bel (1491), most of whom
granted privileges to the town. — The following anteroom contains
mural paintings by H. Leys (4855), removed from his house in the Rue
Leys, pulled down in 1898 (comp. p. LXxiv). — In the Satie pes Mariaces
(Trouwzaal), completed in 1885, are a Renaissance chimney-piece of the
16th cent., in black and white marble, and five frescoes by Lagye (1887-91),
a pupil of Leys: 1. Marriage among the Belge; 2. Roman marriage; 3. First
Christian marriage in Antwerp (650); 4. Marriage of Philippe le Bel and
Joanna of Castile (1497); 5. First civil marriage in Antwerp (1796). —
The SauLE DE Mrxice contains a modern chimney-piece with statues
of princes, by Alph. Peters, and several portraits of princely personages
by W. de Keyser and G. Wappers. — The Saute pu ConseiL (Raao L
contains ceiling-paintings by J. de Roore (1717) and lifesize portraits of
the royal family by De Keyser and Wappers. — The antechamber has a
chimney-piece by Corn. de Vriendt, with a relief of the Judgment of Solomon;
also a painting by Godding, representing Burgomaster Van Straelen led to
execution after being tortured by command of the Duke of Alva, in 1568.
The space in front of the Hétel de Ville commands an excellent
view of the Cathedral.
Most of the houses in the Grand’ Place are Guild Houses,
formerly belonging to the different corporations, and dating from
the 16th and 417th centuries. Of the Renaissance structures on the
N. side, two (Nos. 13 & 19) were rebuilt in 1900 and 1904. Between
these are the Hall of the Coopers (Maison des Tonneliers; No. 15),
built in 4579, renewed in 1628, and since freely restored, and the
five-storied Guild Hall of the Archers (Maison de la Vieille Arbaléte
or Oude Voetboog; No. 17), of 1516 (rebuilt in 1680), with a gable
in two stories surmounted by a gilded equestrian figure of St. George.
On the §.E. are the House of the Clothiers (Maison des Drapiers;
No. 36) and the Hall of the Carpenters (Maison des Charpentiers ;
No. 40), both originally of the 15th cent., but rebuilt in 1544 and
1644. In the house No. 4 the painter A. van Dyck was born in 1599.
T’rom the Grand’ Place the Canal au Sucre or Suiker-Rui (PL B, 3)
leads to the W. to the Quai Van Dyck (p. 202). At the corner of
the latter, to the right, is the so-called Hansa House, built by Jos.
Hertogs for a German firm in 1902-1904 and adorned with six alle-
gorical figures by Jef Lambeaux (Commerce, Navigation, the Scheldt,
Rhine, Elbe, and Weser).
The adjacent Rue des Orfévres (Zilversmids-Straat) , tue aux
Fromagos (Kaas-Straat), and Rue des Tonneliers (Kuipers -Straat) are
quaint survivals of old Antwerp. A few yards to the N. of the last,
in the midst of the poorest and dirtiest part of the old town, lies the
Vieille Boucherie( Vieeschhuis; Pl. B, 3), or old meat-market, a lofty,
late-Gothic edifice, constructed in 1501-3 by Herman de Waghemaker
(p. 172) in regular courses of red bricks and white stone, with four
hexagonal turrets, and recently completely restored.
A little to the N., in the Marché-au-Bétail (Veemarkt), rises
the Church of St. Paul (Pl. B, 3), in the late-Gothic style, which
formerly belonged to the adjoining Dominican monastery. It was
erected in 1533-71, but the choir was not completed until after
1621. At noon and in the evening it is entered from the Rue des |
