Antwerpen-Centraal

This statue by Louis Dupuis, represents Jacob van Artevelde (1290-1345) and is placed above the portal of a neo-Flemish Renaissance bourgeois house in 62, Van Arteveldestraat. Both, statue and house, date from 1881. The design of the house is by architect Albert Delrue. Jacob Van Artevelde, nicknamed The Wise Man, was a Flemish leader and statesman. As a cloth merchant, broker and owner of extensive properties, Van Artevelde belonged to the wealthy bourgeoisie in Ghent. When during the Hundred Year’s war (1337-1453), France forbade his occupied territories to trade with the English , Van Artevelde went against these orders and resumed the wool trade with England. For that reason he is seen in Ghent as a folk hero. The reason why we find this in Antwerp has everything to do with the commissioner of the house, Joseph Hubert Kockx, who was a wealthy 19th century’s trader in ready-to-wear clothes from Schippersstraat. #zotvana #belgium #amberes #architecture #antwerpen🇧🇪 #visitantwerp #antwerp #antwerpenstraalt #instantwerp #eventcelebration #themepark#zoo#nationalpark#lakes#beaches