Antwerpen Budget Hotels

The Guilds houses. Have a look at the Guilds houses at the north side of the square. Unfortunately, they are not originals. Most of the houses burnt down in 1576 in then was reconstructed. The biggest house is the Spanish House (Pand van Spanje) it's under number 7, St. Joris and the Dragon are pictured on it. St. Joris is almost killing the Dragon that hardly managed to catch hold of the front. It creates the illusion that the Dragon may fall down at any moment.

The fountain at the square is decorated with the image of Romanian soldier Salvius Barbo. It's connected with the legend about the origin of name Antwerp. Once upon a time at the bank of the Scheldt Giant Druon Antigon lived. He demanded from sailors floating across the Scheldt an excessive due. Those, who couldn't or didn't want to pay, had their hand cut off by the giant. Salvius Barbo called him down, overpowered him and, as the symbol of victory, cut off his hand and threw it into the river, like Druon Antigon did with other sailors. So, as the legend says, name Antwerp goes from ‘handwerpen' – 'to throw a hand'. Scientists suppose that the name goes from the word ‘de aanwerp' – 'sandbank'.
Read more: guide to Antwerpen with maps, photos and weather conditions.

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