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The area that surrounds Centraal Station, Antwerp's magnificent railway station, is in the commercial center of the city, but is not representative of its character. Hop on the subway to Groenplaats and walk past the cathedral and then into the Grote Markt. This is where Antwerp begins.
For three centuries, beginning in 1555, this UNESCO-listed building was the home and printing plant of an extraordinary publishing dynasty; the family printed innumerable bibles, breviaries, and missals. Christophe Plantin's greatest technical achievement was the Biblia Regia (in Room 16), eight large volumes containing the Bible in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, and Aramaic, complete with notes, glossaries, and grammars.
The Gallo-Roman museum traces the region's human history, and features a host of local archaeological finds, not just from Roman days but all the way back, via the Celts, to the original Neanderthal settlers. To get the kids inspired, ask for the special child-oriented audio guide, which features stories told by the archaeologist "Bob the Digger."
This former Belgian army barracks was used as a holding center and deportation camp by occupying Nazi forces during World War II. Of the more than 25,000 Jewish people who were processed and deported from here, very few made it back to Belgium. Today the buildings house a moving Holocaust memorial dedicated to those people, as well as a documentation center, and a museum explaining Jewish life in Belgium before and during the war.
The chapel and entrance gateway of the Maagdenhuis (Maidens' House), a foundling hospital for girls of the poor, was constructed from 1564 to 1568 and closed in 1882, when more modern institutions became available. A museum houses a collection of clothes, workbooks, and needlework, as well as paintings and statuary.
A 10-minute train ride, or drive, northeast from Hasselt, this huge open-air museum features around 150 mostly agricultural buildings, in different architectural styles, that were brought here stone by stone from all over Flanders, and rebuilt in a series of regional clusters across a largely wooded site. Many of the buildings date back to the 17th century, and they are furnished and decorated with thousands of pieces of period furniture, farm equipment, and general bric-a-brac. There are themed events here throughout the year, including Sunday walks even during the winter shutdown when the museum buildings are closed. Bring walking shoes: the whole site covers a whopping 2 square miles.
An exceptionally thoughtful museum for our times, the Red Star Line operated the old steamers that would cross to the New World from Antwerp, carrying some 2 million passengers to new lives between 1873 and 1934. The museum follows the stories of the emigrants who made that journey, leaving the familiar behind for a life of uncertainty, putting a human face on immigration that is sorely needed these days.
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