Gilbert Van Schoonbeke
The meliorator
Gilbert Van Schoonbeke made Antwerp great
Traffic jams, problems with port infrastructure, pollution, safety issues, shortage of marketplaces, noise, … Typical problems of the cities today?
No, as soon as the 16th century, Antwerp, the European centre of the time, already had to deal with these problems and the people responsible at the time did not have any (affordable) solution.
But then, in 1543, a young architect-engineer arose called Gilbert Van Schoonbeke, and he’ll not only offer a helping hand to the town, but he’d also start making things better in town.
The many building sites Gilbert Van Schoonbeke planned are still visible in the historic town centre, but one must look for them and discover them.
Join us on a trip through this 16th century Antwerp.
He taught his people how to build and brew
The full GVS-walk takes about 3.5 hours, but if you want to, the walk can be split up in a northern and a southern part.
The northern part centres around Stadswaag and the Brewers’ House. This walk mainly covers the brewing aspect. We start off at Market Place (Grote Markt) and end at MAS (Eilandje).
In the southern walk we cover the contribution Van Schoonbeke made to the building of the city walls and we visit some typical squares such as Graanmarkt and Vrijdagmarkt. This walk starts at Frankrijklei 123 (Suit Supply) and ends at Market Place (Grote Markt).
The full walk (which runs from National Bank to MAS) costs € 22 per person (€ 220 min.), both split walks are available at the price of € 15 per person each (€ 150 min.). As always groups have a minimum of 10 persons. The 2 hour walk can be prolonged to 3 hours, e.g. with a visit to typical Antwerp pub. The price for this extended walk then comes to € 20 per person (€ 200 min.).
A La Carte
Would you like more information? Do you want to eat something with the group before or after the tour?
We’d gladly work out a suggestion for you.