X-Nico

50 unusual facts about Antwerp


12275 Marcelgoffin

It was named in honour of Marcel Goffin (1913-1999), an accomplished amateur violin maker living in Hoboken, Belgium.

8832 Altenrath

The asteroid is named in memory of Henricus Altenrath (1832–1892), initiator and first director of the "Nijverheidsschool" a well-known Antwerp school for teaching of technical professions.

Antwerp, Victoria

Ellerman named the area after his birthplace, the Belgian city of Antwerp.

Belgian Bearded d'Anvers

Also called the Antwerp Belgian, both names refer to the breed's origin in Antwerp (the French version being Anvers).

Brico

These are smaller stores located in city centers (Antwerp, Brussels, Liege, Gent ...) that focus on most basic and easy-to-store items.

Caryatid

In the 16th century, from the examples engraved for Sebastiano Serlio's treatise on architecture, caryatids became a fixture in the decorative vocabulary of Northern Mannerism expressed by the Fontainebleau School and the engravers of designs in Antwerp.

Celso Antunes

During roughly the same period (1994–1997) he was also Chief Conductor of the Antwerp-based ensemble Champ d'Action.

Changer

In 2005, Changer played overseas for the first time, at Nevelfest in Antwerp, Belgium.

Church of Saint John the Baptist, Liverpool

There was controversy before the church was consecrated because Bodley intended to use an early 16th-century altarpiece from Antwerp which had carved tableaux of the Passion as the reredos.

Co Prins

Jacobus Theodorus Wilhelmus "Co" Prins (5 June 1938 in Amsterdam – 26 September 1987 in Antwerp) was a Dutch football player.

Cologne-Minden Railway Company

Some of the Cologne committee members under David Hansemann (1790–1864)—a merchant and banker from Aachen—and the Aachen Committee favoured a railway line through Belgium to the seaport of Antwerp.

Cristo de La Laguna

The latest studies conducted by Professor Francisco Galante Gomez confirm that the figure came from the flourishing workshops of Antwerp, thus making it of Flemish-Brabanzon origin, and it was sculpted by Louis Van Der Vule around 1514.

Darron McDonough

Darron Karl McDonough (born 7 November 1962 in Antwerp, Belgium) is a former English footballer, most noted as a player for Oldham Athletic and Luton Town.

Diamond industry in Armenia

Lori, owned by Haik Arslanian, a businessman of Armenian origin from Antwerp, Belgium, employs 400 highly qualified diamond cutters.

Eadmer

The Vita Anselmi, written in about 1124, and first printed at Antwerp in 1551, is probably the best contemporary life of the saint.

Earl Thomson

He sought to represent the United States at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, but was ruled ineligible due to his Canadian citizenship.

Economy of Belgium

The postwar boom years, enhanced by the establishment of the European Union and NATO headquarters in Brussels, contributed to the rapid expansion of light industry throughout most of Flanders, particularly along a corridor stretching between Brussels and Antwerp, which is the second largest port in Europe after Rotterdam.

The port of Antwerp was in 2004 the second largest European sea port by cargo volume, and the Antwerp freight railway station accounts for one-third of Belgian freight traffic.

Eierland

The shallow waters between the two islands werre sold to a group of developers led by trader Nicolaas de Cock from Antwerp in 1835.

Eliyahu-Moshe Ganhovsky

In 1926, he helped organise the Young Mizrachi and League for the Religious Worker groups in Antwerp, and in 1929 became vice-president of the Belgian Zionist Federation.

Greggs

Starting in 2003, in an attempt to test the foreign market, Greggs opened a total of ten stores in Belgium; principally in Antwerp and Leuven.

Grote 1-MeiPrijs

The Grote 1-MeiPrijs (also named Ereprijs Victor De Bruyne) is a European single day cycle race held in the Belgian region of Flanders, around Hoboken.

Italy men's national water polo team

Although a domestic league was soon established, the Italian national water polo team did not first compete at the Olympic Games until the 1920 Olympics, in Antwerp, Belgium, where they were forced to forfeit their first round match, before losing 5–1 to Greece and being eliminated.

Jeffrey van Hooydonk

A native of Antwerp, Van Hooydonk began racing karts in 1990 and graduated to open-wheel racing five years later.

Lode Craeybeckx

François Ferdinand Louis Craeybeckx, better known as Lode, was born in Antwerp in 1897.

The city got improved traffic infrastructure and the city and Port of Antwerp were massively expanded.

Melchers

Franz Melchers (Münster 1868 - Antwerp 1944), painter of German origin, he studied arts in Brussels and La Haye.

Michel Virlogeux

The Award Presentation took place during the Opening of the IABSE Symposium 'Structures for High-Speed Railway Transportation', Antwerp, Belgium on 27 August 2003.

Morgnshtern

In 1937 Morgnshtern had prepared a delegation to take part in the Workers Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, but the Polish government refused to give travel visas to the athletes.

Navarth

We first encounter him on Earth, old and forgotten, living in reduced circumstances on a canal-boat in the ancient (but fictitious) city of Rollingshaven: apparently a Vanceian conflation of Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg.

Peteca

When Brazil was present at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium the Brazilian athletes took with them some shuttlecocks for amusement on the ship and during the intervals between games.

Philip III, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg

They then made a Grand Tour to Antwerp, Mechelen, Lion, Brussels, Breda and Strasbourg and then to Buchsweiler (now: Bouxwiller in France), the "capital" of Hanau-Lichtenberg, where they visited their relatives.

Plesiocetus

The genus Plesiocetus was originally coined for three mysticete species from Neogene marine deposits in the vicinity of Antwerp, Belgium: P. garopii, P. hupschii, and P. burtinii.

Quiberon Bay

Operation Chastity was never implemented because by the time the Allies had seized the Quiberon area, they had also captured Antwerp, a major port that was much closer to the front lines.

Robert Crannell Minor

Robert Crannell Minor (1839-1904), American artist, was born in New York City on 30 April 1839, and received his art training in Paris under Diaz, and in Antwerp under Joseph Van Luppen.

Royal Exchange, London

The design was inspired by a bourse Gresham had seen in Antwerp, Belgium, and was Britain's first specialist commercial building.

RV Belgica

New Belgica (barque) The project to recreate the RV Belgica (1884) at De Steenschuit's yard in Boom, Antwerp.

Santa Maria Maggiore, Bergamo

Over the tapestry of the Crucifixion (executed in Antwerp on Ludwig van Schoor's cartoons, 1698) is a painting by Luca Giordano, with the Passage of the Red Sea (1691).

Sinamorata

Also, the DVD has live footage from a Hof Ter Lo performance in Antwerp, November 2003.

Sjur Johnsen

He competed at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp where he placed fourth in Greco-Roman middleweight, after losing the bronze match to Masa Perttilä.

SM UB-2

When UB-2 sailed to join the Flanders Flotilla in May 1915, she became the only member of her class to not be shipped by rail to Antwerp to join the unit.

SS Black Osprey

By the mid-1920s, West Arrow was sailing for American Diamond on their cargo service to Rotterdam and Antwerp.

SS Brick Quinto

She was also a member of Convoy TAM 124, which departed from Southend on 31 March 1945 and arrived at Antwerp, Belgium on 1 April; Convoy ATM 135, which departed from Antwerp on 25 April and arrived at Southend on 26 April; and Convoy TAM 171, which departed from Southend on 17 May and arrived at Antwerp that day.

St Patrick's Church, Liverpool

On the east wall above the altar is a large painting of the Crucifixion executed in about 1834 by Nicaise de Keyser of Antwerp.

Tongo, Sierra Leone

The Government of Sierra Leone headed by the Minister of Natural Resources under the Administration of president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah originally granted a Mining Lease for the Tongo Diamond Field to Rex Diamond Mining Corporation Limited, a diamond mining and exploration company with its head office in Antwerp, Belgium.

Triptych

The Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp, Belgium, contains two examples by Rubens, and Notre Dame de Paris is another example of the use of triptych in architecture.

Ulu Grosbard

Born in Antwerp, Grosbard was the son of Rose (Tennenbaum) and Morris Grosbard, who worked in business and as a diamond merchant.

Vlodrop-station

The hamlet is named after the railway station of Vlodrop, which was located on the Iron Rhine connection between Antwerp and Germany.

Wouter Van Besien

In 2006, he became a member of the district council of (district of Antwerp).

Zeke Sanborn

Zeke Sanborn was a member of the rowing team for the United States at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp.


1974–75 in Belgian football

In the first round, Antwerp beat SK Sturm Graz of Austria on away goals (lost 1-2 away, won 1-0 at home) and RWDM beat Dundee FC of Scotland (won 1-0 at home, 4-2 away).

2008 Estoril Open

The women's draw was headlined by Viña del Mar and Acapulco champion Flavia Pennetta, Auckland quarterfinalist Maria Kirilenko, and Antwerp runner-up Karin Knapp.

Antwerp World Diamond Centre

The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) is a public/private corporation, officially representing and coordinating the Antwerp diamond sector.

Berendrecht Lock

Costing €340 million, of which 50% will be financed by the European Investment Bank, the Flemish KBC Bank is also making available a €81 million credit line, with the balance provided by the Antwerp Port Authority and the Flemish Government.

Bob Van Reeth

Later buildings include in 2007 a new wing for the Westvleteren Abbey, and the black-and-white Huis Van Roosmalen facing the Scheldt in Antwerp.

Charles Bernardy

From 1775 to 1780, the troop put on shows at Amiens, Cambrai, Strasbourg, Colmar, Paris (at the "théâtre des Petits Comédiens du Bois de Boulogne"), Angers, Le Mans, Aix-en-Provence, Toulon, Marseille, Dijon, Passy, Saint-Quentin, Antwerp and Brussels.

Confédération syndicale belge

It was formed by the small revolutionary Confédération générale du travail (founded on 28 January 1906 in Brussels), the Antwerp diamond workers union (3,000 members), the glass workers union (Union Verrière) of Lodelinsart and others in reaction to the creation of the Commission syndicale, a trade-union confederation directly linked to, and under the orders of the Belgian Labour Party.

County of Flanders

The Christianisation of the population was mainly the work of missionaries like Amandus (St. Bavo's Abbey and St. Peter's Abbey in Ghent) and Eligius (coastal region and Antwerp).

English Renaissance theatre

History plays dealt with more recent events, like A Larum for London which dramatizes the sack of Antwerp in 1576.

Giovanni Antoniano

He also published (Cologne, 1560) the writings of Paulinus of Nola, and the letters of St. Jerome in Antwerp, in 1568.

Hansweert

For a long time, Hansweert was an important stop on the shortest shipping route between the busy ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp, but all that changed when the Scheldt–Rhine Canal opened up and became the quicker route.

Henri Depelchin

Then he was sent to Antwerp and Namur to teach in the Jesuit schools and to serve as a superior.

Islam in Belgium

The majority of Belgian Muslims live in the major cities, such as Antwerp, Brussels and Charleroi.

Jack Whitten

Whitten is represented by Alexander Gray Associates in New York; Zeno X gallery in Antwerp, Belgium; and Guido Maus, beta pictoris gallery / Maus Contemporary in Birmingham, AL.

Jan Mabuse

Mabuse shows Antwerp influence in the large altar-pieces previously located at Castle Howard and Scawby.

Jimmy Hare

During World War I he documented American, British, Canadian, and Italian soldiers, St Dunstan's home for blind soldiers, the Greek harbor town of Thessaloniki, the military hospital at the Hall of Mechanics at the Grand Palais in Paris, people fleeing Antwerp, funerals of the dead from the RMS Lusitania, and the American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly-sur-Seine, among other subjects.

Laurent Delvaux

In Brussels he was a student of Denis Plumier from Antwerp, he followed Plumier to London in 1719 and collaborated with him on the funerary monument of John Sheffield, duke of Buckingham (1721-22, London, Westminster Abbey).

Louis Édouard Bouët-Willaumez

In 1830 he was part of the blockade and capture of Algiers, followed by the blockade of Antwerp.

Luc Cromheecke

After having studied painting, graphic arts and publicity at the Royal Academy for Fine Arts of Antwerp, he created the magazine "Flan Imperial" with fellow student Fritzgerald; it featured material by Dutch artists René Windig and Eddie De Jong.

Matthew Bible

It is not known who printed the 1537 Matthew Bible (Herbert #34); it may have been Jacobus van Meteren in Antwerp.

Monita Secreta

The place where they were found was variously set down as Paderborn, Prague, Liège, Antwerp, Glatz, and on board a captured East Indiaman.

Nicholas Fitzherbert

The biography was reprinted at Antwerp, 1621, 8vo, and in Thomas Francis Knox, Letters and Memorials of Cardinal Allen, (London) 1882, pp.

Novastar

After a sold out club tour in the Fall of 2008, Novastar performed in February in a fully packed Antwerp based Lotto Arena and Amsterdam’s Heineken Music Hall.

Princess Maria Theresia of Liechtenstein

In Vienna on 24 October 1713 Maria Theresia married Thomas Emmanuel, Count of Soissons and Governor of Antwerp (born on 8 December 1687), second son of Louis Thomas of Savoy-Carignano and his wife Uranie de La Cropte de Beauvais.

Raoul Weiler

During his professional activities, mainly as an ICT-manager at Bayer Antwerpen N.V., he was elected president of the Royal Flemish Engineers Association (K VIV), counting 11.000 academic engineers.

Red Star Line

In the city of Antwerp, the former warehouses of the Red Star Line were recently landmarked and reopened as a museum on September 28, 2013 by the City of Antwerp.

Renaat Braem

He graduated as an architect from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in 1935, with a constructivism-inspired design for a linear city between Antwerp and Liège.

RFA Scotol

The ship ran aground and was wrecked at Fox Cove on 12 May 1969 off Porthcothan, Cornwall, en route from Liverpool to the breakers at Antwerp.

Schiphol–Antwerp high-speed railway

The Schiphol - Antwerp High-Speed Line is a high-speed rail line connecting Schiphol Airport, 9 km southwest of Amsterdam, to Antwerp, Belgium.

Staf Van Reet

He obtained a degree of engineering in Applied Biological Sciences and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Sciences from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Leuven, Belgium) and a Law degree from the University of Antwerp (Antwerp, Belgium).

Tessenderlo

It is on the Albert Canal and the European route E313, the highway between Antwerp and Liège, one of the reasons why it was the place for the first Belgian "Industrial Zone of National Importance" in the 1960s.

The Crowning of the Virtuous Hero

Unsigned, it was commissioned by the St George Guild of Archers in Antwerp for their banqueting hall and is now in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister within the Schloss Wilhelmshöhe in Kassel.

The Puppet Designer

The world premiere took place on April 4, 1995, at the Singel in Antwerp with the Oxalys Chamber Orchestra (without conductor), featuring Henk Lauwers (baritone).

Thomas Tichborne

On 20 April he was executed with Watkinson and Francis Page, S.J. The last named was a convert, of a Middlesex family though born in Antwerp.

Uccle-Calevoet railway station

Trains calling at Uccle-Calevoet are local trains running from Nivelles to Leuven, Braine-l'Alleud to Brussels-North, Nivelles to Antwerp-Central, Châtelet to Schaerbeek and Charleroi-Sud to Antwerp Central.

Van Straelen

Robert Van Straelen (b. 1934), Belgium Emeritus Professor at Antwerp Management School

William Aylesbury

On the fall of Charles I, Aylesbury sought refuge with his father, first at Amsterdam, and afterwards at Antwerp; and he took under his protection his sister, Lady Hyde.