Northeast Belgium
The 1258 Begijnhofkerk is fascinating for its wooden barrel-vaulted ceiling and the contrast between sparse elements of contemporary art and the 38…
Must-see attractions in Northeast Belgium
Antwerp
This exquisite private house has a white facade picked out with small black iron swirls and two gilded sunflowers. It's the most striking of several side…
Antwerp
The beautiful building that served as Antwerp's stock exchange from 1531 to 1997 fell into severe disrepair over two decades, but since 2016 has been…
Antwerp
This picturesque passage dates to 1591 and was originally a street of shoemakers.
Northeast Belgium
The Schepenhuis is a small castle fantasy dating back to 1288. It became the council parliament for the Burgundian Netherlands from 1473.
Antwerp
If walking between Antwerpen-Centraal station and the town centre, do peep inside this exuberant shopping mall within a 1908 neoclassical exhibition hall…
Antwerp
Original escalators and 1930s tilework add interest to this 572m-long pedestrian and bicycle tunnel that cuts beneath the Scheldt River. You emerge at the…
Antwerp
Standing in the middle of the road, the great painter is dressed in britches and hose, holding a floppy plumed hat and gazing into space, apparently…
Northeast Belgium
This eccentric little shop-museum is great if you can catch it open, and has some fun with the 'crazy' hell scenes and frolicking odd folk of 16th-century…
Antwerp
Piled with symbols in a refreshing fountain spray, this baroque sculpture's uppermost figure depicts Brabo, hero of Antwerp’s giant-killing, hand-throwing…
Antwerp
If you're strolling Zurenborg looking for art nouveau gems, don't miss house numbers 11 and 30 on this street, which have mosaic work commemorating the…
Antwerp
This private, commercial space for contemporary art moved in 2012 to impressively large premises in a former milk-processing factory on an unlikely…
Antwerp
A raised southern promenade links Het Steen to St-Jansvliet, a tree-shaded square where a lift descends to the Sint-Annatunnel.
Northeast Belgium
This unrefined seven-storey tower is the most significant remnant of the former St-Trudo abbey church, dating partly from the 11th century but left as a…
Antwerp
This attractive historic building was an orphanage and child refuge from 1553 to 1882 and houses some fascinating objects from this time, along with a…
Northeast Belgium
Staring at the basilica from the main square is a muscular, mustachioed statue. This is local hero Ambiorix, a tribal chieftain who led a brief 54 BC…
Leuven
This church's enormous baroque frontage remains impressive despite considerable age-erosion to the limestone capitals. It's topped with trumpeteer angels…
Antwerp
Designed by Richard Rogers, famous for the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Antwerp’s 21st-century law courts have a distinctive series of gleaming titanium …
Northeast Belgium
Landing on his back with limbs akimbo, the giant yellow character that you see in the grassy contoured space north of St-Romboutskathedraal is Op…
Leuven
Though originally built before 1329, this chapel is now an archetypal work of 1960s church design, made memorable as the last resting place of Father…
Northeast Belgium
Claiming to be Belgium's largest rococo church, the 1759 Sint-Gorgoniuskerk rises from the town's cute central square. More impressive inside than out, it…
Antwerp
Built in 1512 for the cloth-cutters' guild, this underrated little chapel honouring St Anne was given a major Gothic rebuild in the mid-17th century, from…
Northeast Belgium
In an idyllic rural location on the northeast edge of town, Laermolen is small but still functioning watermill dating from 1381.
Northeast Belgium
By the late 18th century, medieval city walls had become redundant and Mechelen's were torn down to create the space where the R12 inner ring road now…
Northeast Belgium
Established in 1889, this workshop is one of the few places in Belgium where you can see contemporary tapestries being woven and antique ones from all…
Antwerp
Though relatively modest by Zurenborg standards, Les Mouettes is a classic of art nouveau architecture with its curls of wrought-iron balcony detailing.
Leuven
With its unusual interplay of brick and stone work, the exterior of this baroque former church is worth a look as you stroll by. It's now part of a…
Antwerp
Outside Het Steen castle is a humorous statue of Lange Wapper, a tall folkloric ‘peeping Tom’ figure showing off his codpiece to two diminutive onlookers.
Northeast Belgium
Dating from 1677, this fine church has a very spacious feel, with two rows of whitewashed Corinthian columns and an elegant altarpiece of pale grey marble…
Antwerp
Presiding over Groenplaats, with Antwerp's cathedral rising splendidly behind it, this 1840s bronze Rubens statue was sculpted by Borgerhout-born…
