Kinepolis Antwerpen opened in 1993 as Metropolis, with 24 screens on the Groenendaallaan in Merksem. Its best feature may be the tram stop named after it.
Author: Emma
Our podcaster-in-chief, Emma, has lived in Antwerp for over a decade and knows the city inside and out. With her finger on the pulse of Antwerp’s cultural scene, she’s the one to turn to for the latest happenings.
Nationale Bank Antwerpen: Hendrik Beyaert’s bank on Leopoldplaats
Hendrik Beyaert’s National Bank building on Leopoldplaats was inaugurated in 1879 and closed as a bank branch in 2014. Its strongrooms now hold furniture.
deSingel: Léon Stynen’s concrete arts campus in Antwerp
Léon Stynen began deSingel in 1958 and it opened in full in 1980. Stéphane Beel’s wooden extension followed in 2010, and the Blue Hall has had a €4 million refit.
Sint-Andries, from the parish of misery to the fashion quarter
Antwerp’s Sint-Andries parish was founded in 1523, after its friars were tried for heresy. Its church has a pulpit of fishermen in a boat, a memorial to Mary Stuart’s ladies-in-waiting and a Virgin dressed by Ann Demeulemeester.
Antwerp diamonds: three streets, four bourses and an honest price
1,470 companies and more than 3,300 people trade diamonds in three streets beside Central Station. What the district is, how the trade is doing, and whether the stones are cheaper here.
Antwerp Expo: the old Bouwcentrum keeps its halls full
Antwerp Expo, the former Bouwcentrum on the Jan Van Rijswijcklaan, has five halls and more than 80 fairs and events a year. Its owner also organises fairs, and that is the point.
The Eilandje, where Antwerp’s docks began, has new tenants
Napoleon ordered Antwerp’s first dock here in 1811. The old dock district now holds the MAS, the Red Star Line sheds, the city archive and a two-star restaurant in a warehouse of 1895.
Zomerfabriek: Antwerp’s summer festival in a gasworks
Every summer Zomer van Antwerpen opens a disused gasworks on the Minkelersstraat to anyone who walks in. The Zomerfabriek is free, open until one in the morning, and has a skate zone.
DIVA, Antwerp’s diamond museum, learns to explain the stones
DIVA opened on Suikerrui in 2018 with six rooms and a butler. Since its 2023 renovation, the museum of diamonds, jewellery and silver also asks where the stones come from.
Vrijdagmarkt, the Antwerp square that has auctioned furniture since 1549
Every Friday morning a bailiff and an auctioneer sell household goods from bankruptcies and estates on the Vrijdagmarkt, as the square has done since 1549. Under it, the district uncovered two Cold War bunkers.