The walled garden
Statues, fruit trees and cobbles behind a gate.
Klaus Graf — CC BY 2.5 · Trougnouf (Benoit Brummer) — CC BY 4.0 · FrDr — CC BY-SA 4.0 · FrDr — CC BY-SA 4.0
Antwerp's beguinage is a hidden oasis of silence on the edge of the old town: a small walled compound of 1545 (rebuilt after the original outside the walls was destroyed) of red-brick houses around a garden, cobbled paths and a small church — inhabited by beguines (devout women without permanent vows) for centuries, and today by families and students in complete quiet behind its gate. Smaller and simpler than Bruges' famous beguinage or Ghent's Small one, and not UNESCO-listed, but its beauty is its surprise: you step from the din of the university city into a garden of statues, fruit trees and silence, steps from the student quarter and Ossenmarkt. The church opens occasionally, the garden always by day. Ten minutes on foot east of the Grote Markt — a short quiet stop for those who know, rarely visited by tourists.
Statues, fruit trees and cobbles behind a gate.
From the city's din to silence in steps.
Rodestraat 39, 2000 Antwerp
St James's Church (Rubens' Tomb)St James's Church is Rubens' resting place: a huge late-Gothic church (1491–16565 minutes walk4.6
Snijders&Rockox HouseThe Snijders&Rockox House is two adjoining seventeenth-century houses of two fig7 minutes walk4.7
Palace on the MeirThe Palace on the Meir is a rococo palace of 1745 in the heart of Antwerp's most8 minutes walk4.2
Rubens HouseThe Rubens House is the palace Peter Paul Rubens built for himself in 1610 on re8 minutes walk4.3
Antwerp Stock Exchange (Handelsbeurs)The historic exchange building in central Antwerp, among the first buildings any8 minutes walk4.6Smaller and simpler than both without doubt, and not worth a special trip — but a pleasant free silent break for those walking the old town's east (the student quarter, nearby St James's Church). Having seen Bruges' beguinage, this is its modest shadow; having seen none, this is a small quiet introduction.