"Castle on the Schelde" Het Steen - National Maritime Museum Tip by mrclay2000

This ancient castle is all that is left of a once-enormous fortification. Built in large part in the early 1200s but begun far earlier, it is Antwerp's oldest building and one of its (at present) free attractions. The view above shows separate building styles from two different eras fused into the same building, which makes me wonder what kind of comglomeration once stood here in 1850. The visitor can wander around to his heart's desire, from the courtyard to the ramparts and wherever access is granted, to get an idea of medieval defenses, though the castle also served once as a prison. You can see from the above photo the old archer's windows (narrow slits), and from the outside different layers of the building stones of the era. On the quay above you understand how the castle once functioned as a 'watchtower' over the Schelde which was and remains the city's most important trade and traffic artery.

Address: Steenplein 1, 2000 Antwerpen
Directions: next to the river, 2 minutes walk from the Market Square
Phone: + 32 (0)3-201 93 40