The Chocolate Line
Dominique Persoone in the hall of mirrors and royal kitchens.
APK — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Vasyatka1 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jean Housen — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ricardalovesmonuments — CC BY-SA 4.0
Antwerp's main shopping street and Belgium's most expensive in rents: a broad pedestrian avenue linking Central Station to the old town, with grand nineteenth-century façades (the "Stadsfeestzaal" with its golden dome is now a shopping centre) and global chains. You will inevitably walk it — with the palace and its chocolate midway.
Sign in to write your review of this place.
No reviews yet — be the first.
The Palace on the Meir is a rococo palace of 1745 in the heart of Antwerp's most famous shopping street — built by a wealthy merchant, then bought by Napoleon in 1811 as an imperial residence (his furniture and marble bathroom survive), inherited by the Dutch kings and then the Belgian kings as their Antwerp royal palace until the king ceded it to the Flemish state (1969). Today a venue for exhibitions and events, with limited tours of its gilded halls. Its delicious secret: in the palace's old kitchens and the hall of mirrors sits "The Chocolate Line" — the shop and workshop of the famous chocolatier Dominique Persoone (dubbed the "shock-o-latier" for his strange creations) — enter as a customer and see the palace inside for free, Napoleon's palace turned chocolate kitchen. On the Meir — a short free stop on the shopping walk, between Central Station and the old town.
Dominique Persoone in the hall of mirrors and royal kitchens.
The 1811 imperial marble on the tours.
Meir 50, 2000 Antwerp