My favourite bar: ‘Oud Arsenaal’

Author: Ludo Joosen

My favourite bar: ‘Oud Arsenaal’

One of the really authentic bars in town is called ‘Oud Arsenaal’ (Old Arsenal) and is situated in the Maria Pijpelinckxstraat. In case you didn’t know: Maria Pijpelinckx was Rubens’ mother, so it shouldn’t surprise you you can find this bar in the neighbourhood of the Rubens House Museum.

It has been a bar ever since 1924 and the building itself dates back to early 19th century. The starting date of the bar can still be read in the inscription above the door. The shop front has these orange-brown coloured ceramic tiles and probably the interior dates back to 1932. In that year a permit was granted to enlarge the café and at that moment the art-deco interior was installed, with its brown and yellow floor tiles, and its walls covered with wooden benches, mirrors and wooden wainscoting.

When you enter the cafe, you make a trip through time, going back nearly a hundred years. In 2009 a search was held to look for really authentic public bars and ‘Oud Arsenaal’ was selected as one of the top-locations.

And another reason to go there: Steph, the landlord, has a really impressive choice of fine beers from all over the country and that at very affordable prices.

Oud Arsenaal

Maria Pijpelinckxstraat 14

Wed-Fri: 10:00-22:00

Sat-Sun: 07:30 – 19:30

Saturdays and Sundays a market (Vogeltjesmarkt) is being held in the immediate neighbourhood, that explains the early opening hours.

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Our historical churches

Although a number of historical churches have vanished (e.g. the Walburgischurch in the very center of the old town, and the church belonging to the St-Michael’s cloister in the environment of the Kloosterstraat), we still have 5 churches with a rich historical background.

The most important of these of course is the Cathedral, Our Lady’s Church, situated between the Town Hall and the Groenplaats, which by the way used to be a cemetery belonging to the church. This gothic masterpiece is especially known for its 4 Rubens paintings. While restauration works are on their way in the Fine Arts Museum, part of the collection, which originally belonged to the cathedral, are on display again. So the cathedral is an interesting museum of its own.

The youngest of the historical churches is the Jesuits’ church: St-Carl-Borromeus. Its façade is a fine example of baroque art, but only inside will you be able to feel the effect of baroque completely, especially when you enter the Houtappel chapel (to your right facing the main altar). Also this church is closely connected with Rubens as there are clear signs that Rubens had a hand in the design of both the façade and the tower. Originally the aisles left and right had their ceilings painted by Rubens, but a fire in 1718 destroyed all of these paintings. Rubens also painted two large canvases for the main altar, but the originals are now on display in Vienna. The really unique thing about this church is that the painting adorning the main altar can be switched. The original device to perform this feat is still active and is being used four times a year.

Another church linked with Rubens is St-James’s, located near St-Jacobsmarkt, entrance via the southern aisle in Lange Nieuwstraat. Here the master is buried beneath a painting of his own choice. This church boasts a very impressive main altar in baroque style and an organ on which the young Mozart one gave a concert as he passed Antwerp in the company of his father and his sister.

At the Veemarkt (Cattle Market) you can find the entrance to St-Paul’s, which used to be the church of the dominicans as you can clearly see from the engravings above the entrance. In the church you will find paintings of all the great masters (Rubens, Van Dijck, Jordaens, …) but equally impressive is the calvary you will find in a courtyard belonging to the church.

Last but not least there’s St-Andrew’s (entrance Waaistraat) which boasts what is probably the most fascinating pulpit in the world.

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A prolonged Chinese New Year

A tip for those who plan to stay in our city Feb 4th or 5th.

Jan 28th the Chinese New Year was celebrated in Chinatown in the Central Station area of the city. Especially Wednesday Feb 1st will be a noisy day as fireworks and crackers are going to drive away the evil demons. But as from this year this is not the end of celebrations: the following weekend ‘The Asian Lifestyle Group’ is staging a food festival under the name ‘Asia in Antwerp’.

The festival is staged in the Waagnatie, opposite the Red Star Line Museum and will be open on Sat 4th and Sun 5th of February, each day starting at 12:30 up till 21:00. A marketplace is created with authentic Asian goods, recipes,… Tour operators specialised in Asia will present their programs, workshops will be organised to teach you the little tricks to make perfect sushi’s or to cut fruit and vegetables to look like flowers or animals and kids can get initiated into yoga.

But that’s not all: there will be music, acrobacy, folklore… and as Sunday is the national holiday in Bali, a special ceremony will be held. Tickets are for sale and more information can be found on the organization’s website.

Eat and drink, Going out, News

Don’t take my word for it, read the NYP

New York Post’s Jennifer Ceasar spent a few days in Antwerp and her conclusion is two-fold: 1. Antwerp is under-rated; 2. you mustn’t miss it. And this is why:

“With its perfectly preserved medieval buildings and ancient cobblestone streets, Antwerp might seem content to rest on historic laurels.

In fact, Belgium’s second-largest city is a vibrant, cosmopolitan place where avant-garde fashion, cutting-edge architecture and progressive cuisine flourish.

In recent years, urban renewal has come to the gritty docklands of the north (Eilandje) and to the former down-at-the-heels neighborhood (Zuid) in the south.

Here’s how to pass a few days in one of Europe’s coolest lesser-known destinations.”

And the article continues with some very interesting places to visit.

News, Publications

Old and new go hand in hand

The Hoogstraat is a very lively shopping street where you will not find any of the international brands, but only local shops, eat houses and bars. Jacques Jordaens, one of the great baroque painters of the city was born here in the house which now bears the number 13, right next to one of the entrances to the Vlaaikensgang, a relict of sixteenth century Antwerp.

One of the antique shops in the Kloosterstraat

One of the eldest buildings in the Hoogstraat is situated right next to St-Jansvliet. It is the Saint-Julian’s Hospital or guesthouse. Pilgrims on their way to Compostella could stay there overnight and in fact, they still can, although the guest house is now situated on St-Jansvliet and offers a bit more comfort than the old building. The old chapel of the guesthouse today houses the Black Panther, one of the most prestigious art galleries in town presenting a wide range of contemporary artists from home and abroad.

And while you’re at it, if you continue walking south, you enter the Kloosterstraat. Here, for something like half a mile, you will find a lot of antique and vintage shops, one next to the other, with of course a coffe house, restaurant or bar in between.

Eat and drink, Going out, Shop , ,

Two more reasons to visit Rubens’ House

Thanks to a gift by the King Bauduin Foundation, the Rubens’ House has acquired two more masterworks. One is a painting by Van Dijck, the other a self portrait by Jordaens, two contemporaries of Rubens and in the case of Van Dijck also a close co-worker and a personal friend.

Van Dijck’s painting is one of a set representing the apostles. In this case it is Matthew, the one who joined the apostles to bring the number to twelve again after Judas’ suicide.

Jordaens’ selfportrait is a copy of an existing self portrait (the original is in Neuburg on the Danube, Germany) by a pupil of Jordaens on which Jordaens himself has co-operated.

The two paintings will be on display on the Bafra event in Brussels next week, afterwards the Royal Arts Institute is going to study the paintings after which they will on exhibit again in Rubens’ House.

Photo: KIK-IRPA

Source: GVA

Monuments, News , ,

Favourite Bars

Hier alvast een paar van mijn favoriete cafeetjes. Als je op de naam klikt kan je meer informatie bekijken (voor zover die al aanwezig is).

– Oud Arsenaal
– De Duifkens
– ‘t Waagstuk
– Kulminator
– Groote Witte Arend

Eat and drink, Going out

Where to eat?

Whatever your tastes, you will surely find a nice restaurant in Antwerp: traditional Flemish/Belgian cuisine, French cuisine on both haute cuisine and bistrot level, Oriental food, all types of Mediterranean food,… You name it, we got it.

My favourite Italian restaurant is called ‘Verona’, in the shadow of the cathedral on the Oude Korenmarkt. A street with a great many restaurants, but Verona to me stands out. It is usually very busy, but the kitchen is well organised, so you don’t have to wait too long for your meal to arrive. If you want a real high class cuisine in this neighbourhood, be sure to visit ‘Sir Anthony Van Dyck’ in the Vlaaikensgang, a remnant of 16th century Antwerp.

Another area where you will find a great many restaurants is Vlaamse Kaai and Waalse Kaai in the south of the city. ‘Bizie Lizie’ (Vlaamse Kaai 16) is a place where I have never been disappointed. They are best known for their traditional French/Belgian cuisine.

Of course also the area around Central Station has a great many restaurants. Real Chinese food can be found in China Town (Van Wesenbekestraat). Stationstraat has many different flavours, and so does the De Keyserlei. Most of these restaurants serve decent food for reasonable prices.

A final fine food area is Zurenborg, especially up and around the Dageraadplaats.

Going out

Going back in time

Do you fancy a walk through Antwerp as it was in its golden 16th century, or the 17th century town of Rubens, Van Dijck, and Plantin?

The Time Machine Project, a cooperation of 70 organizations from 20 European countries is trying to get the necessary funds from the European authorities to complete the project. One of the organizations is the Antwerp University.

The aim of the project is to bring together all historical data stored in universities, libraries and archives over Europe and store them digitally. In a later stage individuals will be able to add their own data. All these data together will drive a kind of time travel machine that allows one to walk through time using VR Glasses or Google glasses or the like.

Of course the Time Machine Project is a very ambitious one, but fortunately there are similar projects it can build upon. One of these is Gistorical Antwerp.

‘Gistorical Antwerp’ looks like the Time Machine Project, but on a much smaller scale,’ says Tim Soens, researcher at the Antwerp University. This project has been running for four years and aims to rebuild the inner city up to 500 years ago. The project is expected to finish in 2020, and by then a 2D map of the town should be available online. When you consult the map you will be able to see what a particular street looked like, what types of goods were sold there, who lived in which house, …

The first results of the Time Machine Project are expected by 2021, that is if Frédéric Kaplan, a Swiss researcher who launched the project succeeds in convincing the authorities to grant him the necessary subsidies which will run in the millions of euros of course.

Source: GVA

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City folklore pt. 1

A tasty sausage roll for Lost Monday.

The very first Monday after Twelfth Night (Jan. 6) is a very special day for Antwerp. It is called Verloren Maandag (Lost Monday) and is accompanied by free sausage or apple rolls in popular bars. The origins for this feast are very old and nobody really knows what is its origin.

One theory says that the Sunday after Twelfth Night was the day on which new city officials took oath, and on the next day everybody took free, so it was a Lost Monday. A variation on this story tells us that the traditional guilds held festivities for the New Year of the Monday after Twelfth Night. The guild members went from door to door to pass on the dean’s wishes to the population of the town, and of course they also had to call on the doors of inns. To keep the guests a little longer inside and promote the drinking, the patrons offered them a hot salty combination of bread and (cheap) sausage.

Specifically for Antwerp there is a story that it was a tradition for people working in the harbour that on this day they were allowed to eat and drink freely. Of course the bosses chose for food that filled the stomachs in a cheap way and so the traditional sausage roll was invented.

Still another theory says sausage rolls were invented by butchers. They usually had a lot of leftovers from the preceeding festive days and turned these in a roll and to disguise the meat was not that fresh anymore, wrapped it in a dough clothing.

Nowadays sausage rolls can be bought at the baker’s all year round, but on Verloren Maandag the showcase window of every bakery store is filled with the popular rolls.

Should you happen to drop in to a bar on Lost Monday, don’t be surprised if the landlord offers you a hot sausage roll! Cheers!

Eat and drink, Folklore, Going out , , ,

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