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'.
Antwerp museums. Antwerp is a real paradise for museum-lovers. In The Royal Museum of Fine Arts one can see not only thousands of works of old school masters (among which there are, for example, Flemish primitives), but also at about 1500 works of modern authors. By the way, it is the place, where the biggest and the most beautiful collection of Rubens is kept. In The Museum of Modern Art (Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen – MUHKA) mainly the works of Belgian artists of the 60s are exhibited.
The National Maritime Museum is situated in the oldest building of Antwerp - het Steen. Amazing ship models and the section with real ship in the open air make this museum one of the most interesting places in the city.
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guide to Antwerpen with maps, photos and weather conditions.
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