Antwerp - City center part 2: Railway Station, Groenplaats, Kon. Astridplein, Meir, Chinatown, KBC Tower, Staadsfestzaal

Antwerp City Center/Old Town - part 2
GROENPLAATS, CENTRAL STATION, KONINGIN ASTRIDPLEIN, LEYSSTRAAT, DE KEYSERLEI , PALAIS OP DER MEIR

The city center and Old Town of Antwerp, situated in the district simply known as Antwerp, is where you find most of all famous historical buildings, many of them in Flemish Renaisance architecture. Grote Markt is the center, where you find the cathedral, the giant sculpture and the City Hall as well as many pubs and restaurant (part 1). Meir is the main pedestraian street that goes from Astridplein at the large Central Station, that is considered one of the world's most beautiful, to Grote Markt. On Meir you will find the most upscale stores as well as an old former ballroom that has been converted into a shopping galleria. At Groenplats you find a market and a statue of Rubens. There are many impressive museums, like the Rubens Houses, in the city center. The Old Town has been a highly important center for culture, markets and trade. To the West the city center is bordered by River Schelde from the suburbs. Along the boulevared Jordaenskaai, that is parallel with the river, you will find the historic castle Het Steen and many other interesting buildings (part 3).

KONINGIN ASTRIDPLEIN AND CENTRAL STATION:

Koningin Astridplein (Great Astrid Square) is situated in the East part of the city center, and is the first place that will meet many visitors. Here you find the cathedral like Central Station, the zoo, the aquarium, sculptures and the postmodern Radisson Astrid Hotel. It is also a main hub for trams and buses and has a big city feeling.

Antwerp Central Station (Centraal Station), one the largest train stations in Belgium, has been dubbed "the railway cathedral" because of its cathedral like proportions and decorations, and is considered one of the world's most beautiful. The photo above was taken from the pedestrian street De Keyserlein. It is one of the most famous buildings in Anwerp. It was built 1895-1905 and is 75m tall to the top of the dome. Unfortunately this beautiful building also symbolized a bad thing for us, since we learned about the train strike here, that nearly made us miss our plane home!

Antwerp Central Station is over 400m long and has 2 entrances. There are 3 levels of tracks and a shopping center that includes 30 diamond shops!

Antwerp Central Station

Different levels of train tracks underneath the glass vaulted ceiling, Antwerp Central Station

The historic domed building of Antwerp Central Station that faces Astrid Square, designed by the Bruges architect L.Delacenserie. It has also 6 smaller towers.

Antwerp Central Station

Looking up the dome, Central Station

Antwerp Central Station

Antwerp Central Station, main facade seen from Astridplein.

Dome building, Central Station

Antwerp Central Station is 400m long. On the back part there is a modern atrium (above)in 4 levels. After an extention built 1993-2009 fastspeed trains can pass and there is a level that make it possible for trains to pass without detour, converting it from a terminus to a through station.

Dome building, Antwerp Central Station

Antwerp Central Station at Astriplein.

Radisson Blu Astrid Hotel is a stunning art deco hotel, built in 1997. Reminding a bit of LEGO toys, but still a very cool building. At night it is illuminated in different colours. The Aquatopia aquarium is situated on the left (red) side of the building.

Thanks to the polite staff of this hotel we knew that we could take the bus to Brussels Airport, otherwise we would have missed the plane because of the train strike!

Astridplein

Radisson Blu Astrid Hotel has 247 rooms.

Astridplein and the Radisson Blu Hotel/Aquatopia Aquarium.

Astridplein


Art nouveau architecture, Astridplein		Antwerp Zoo, entrance at Astridplein. Belgium's oldest animal parks and one of the world's oldest		Radisson Hotel/Aquatopia aquarium, Astridplein

Antwerp has a vibrant Chinatown, that begins at Astrid Square. The port was built as late as in 2010 and is called Pagoodeport and was created in China. If it wasn't for the train strike, more pictures of Chinatown would have been included!

Chinatown Antwerp mainly consists of Van Wesenbekestraat, a narrow street trafficated by trams. The neighbourhood grew spontanousley in the 1970s to a Chinatown.Traffic jam at Astridplein, near the gate to Chinatown

MEIR:

Meir is the most important and famous street, it passes many interesting sights, grand buildings and sculptures, between Astridplein and Groenplats near Grote Markt. It is the regions and one of the countries most important shopping streets with fancy stores and department stores. It was pedestrianzied when Antwerp became the European Culture Capital in 1993. Meir is also a site for parades and events. Here you find the elegant Stadsfeestzaal that has been transformed from a ballroom to a shopping galleria, as well as a Royal Palace, Paleis op der Meir. Already in the 16th century it was lined with patrician mansions. Leysstreet and De Keyserlei are the extentions of Meir on the Easternmost part, close to the station. The famous Rubens House art museum is situated nearby Meir. Below is the route from the extention steets that begin at Astridplein to the end of Meir at Groenplats.


De Keyserlei street with Century Bldg		De Keyserlei		De Keyserlei with Antwerp Tower


Postmodern hotel at De Keyserlei		Central Station seen from De Keyserlei, extention of Meir		Kipdorpvest st towards Theater Building

De Keyserlei, Central Station and Century Building, the art deco highrise from 1929 with the Mediamarkt sign (right), that occupies 2 of 3 floors.

Century Center is a hotel that has been converted into a shopping center.
Towards the Flemish Opera

Sightseeing bus at Meir

Teniersplaats towards Frankrijlei.

Vlaames Opera

Flanders Opera and Antwerp Tower seen from Frankrijlei street at Teniersplaats. Vlaames Opera was built in 1904-07 in a baroque style. It was very rundown until 2007, when it was renovated.

Antwerp Tower, built in 1973, is a 25-storey highrise that replaced a beautiful hotel building called Grand Hotel Weber, damaged by a bomb in 1944. It is considered an eyesore by most inhabitants, despite its bronze glass facade.

Antwerp Tower is 87m tall.

Theater Building from 1973. The 21-storey highrise replaced a beautiul theater building.

Antwerp residents crossing Frankrijleil towards Meir.

Teniersplaats with the identical baroque buildings. De Keyserlei towards Leystraat and Meir.

Teniersplaats is where Leysstraat, the extention of Meir, begins. The significant identical baroque buildings with black and golden domes faces each other.

The sculpture of Anthony van Dyck, another famous Flemish baroque painter, stands at the point where Leysstraat becomes Meir.

Galleria Inni and van Dyck sculptre, Meir

David Teniers Statue, Leystraat. Teniers was a famous painter in the 1600s.

Leysstraat

Stadsfeestzaal (City Festival Hall) is a building on Meir, that was built for official festivities. But since it was on fire in 2000, the glass-vaulted hall was renovated and in 2007 it opened as a modern shopping center.

The entrance to the City Festival Hall, Stadsfeestzaal

Stadsfeestzaal shopping galleria

City Festival Hall (Stadsfeestzaal) is probably the most elegant shopping galleria you can find in Europe with its gold decorations, mosaic floor and elegant marble staircases.

Stadsfestzaal

Stadsfeestzaal is now open for public as a shopping galleria, but it used to be a festival hall for statesmen, such as the king. It was also used for exhibitions and markets. It was during a market in 2000 that the place took fire and only the iron skeleton remained. Since it was a historical building, it was not allowed to tear the building down. Instead it was rebuilt after the 1906 plans, much of joy for the visitors today!

Leystraat

Leystraat with Statsfeestzaal

Leystraat towards Antwerp Tower


Osterrieth Huis, a baroque building on Meir		Meir/Kolveniersstraat		Esprit, Meir


Meir		Fontäne am Wapper, Meir		Meir

Paleis op der Meir, a former royal palace from the 18th century, siuated on Meir. It opened to pubilc in 2010, after a long renovation. This rococo building had the status as a royal residence until 1969.

Sint-Jan Berchmanscollege

Construction site next to Meir

KBC Tower (middle), or Boerentoren, is considered to be Europe's first skyscraper, and was the tallest building in Europe upon completion in 1932. This art deco building is here seen from Meir. KBC Tower is 97m tall and has 27 floors, Antwerp's tallest building after the cathedral and the tallest highrise. It is situated near Groenplaats, at the westernmost edge of Meir. Unfortunately scaffold covered the building at the time of our visit in 2014, because of renovations...


Hand sculpture, Meir		Rental bikes, Meir		Old tram and KBC Tower, Meir

KBC Tower was built 1929-32 and was Europe's first skyscraper. Unfortunately the facade was covered by scaffolds during our visit, making it impossible to take good pictures of the exterior. Such a pitty, really annoying!

Store front near KBC Tower

Picturesque street near Groenplaats


Crucifix at a public side street		Street near Groenplaats		Street church near Groenplaats

GROENPLAATS:

Groenplaats (Green Place) is situated just one block from Grote Markt, with the Cathedral of Our Lady in between. On this is a large square here you will also find the Rubens statue, the Hilton hotel, the Grand Bazar shopping mall and several restaurants, cafés and stores.

Groenplaats might not as be as green as the name suggests, but at least there are some trees here and you can find a lot of beer cafés here. Until the 18th century, Groenplaats was the city's main cemetery. View towards the Cathedral of Our Lady (read more about it in part 1), that is the largest gothic church in the BeNeLux.