Antwerp City Hall
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The City Hall of Antwerp, Belgium, stands on the western side of Antwerp's Grote Markt (Great Market Square). Erected between 1561 and 1565 to the design of Cornelis Floris de Vriendt and several other architects and artists, this Renaissance building incorporates both Flemish and Italian influences.
The low arcaded ground story is of rusticated stone, and at one time housed little shops. Above are two stories with Doric and Ionic columns separating large mullioned windows, and a fourth story forming an open gallery.
The richly ornamented center section, which rises above the eaves in diminishing stages, holds female statues representing Justice, Prudence, and the Virgin Mary, and bears the coats of arms of the Duchy of Brabant, the Spanish Habsburgs, and the Margraviate of Antwerp.
History
In the 16th century, the municipal authorities proposed to replace Antwerp's small medieval town hall with a more imposing structure befitting the prosperity of the great port city. Domien de Waghemakere drafted a plan (c. 1540) for a new building in a style typical of the monumental Gothic town halls of Flanders and Brabant.
But an atmosphere of war prevented any progress on the project. The building material intended for the city hall was instead used to shore up the city defenses. Not until about 1560 were new plans developed, this time in the new Renaissance style. Completed in 1565, the building lasted hardly a decade before being burnt to a shell in the Spanish Fury of 1576. It was repaired three years later.
Renovations during the late 19th century by Pierre Bruno Bourla drastically modified the interior. Much of the stately decor dates from this period, as does a roof over what was once an open-air inner courtyard.
