CULTURE
Antwerp city – a trend-setting, diamond-flashing, bustling port showing Belgium at its absolute best
![Antwerp city – a trend-setting, diamond-flashing, bustling port showing Belgium at its absolute best](/files/2022/3/1200x630/16631428854129915513_1200x630.jpg)
Baku, September 14, AZERTAC
Located on the Schelde (Scheldt) River, about 55 miles (88 km) from the North Sea, Antwerp, Flemish Antwerpen, French Anvers, city, Flanders region of Belgium, is one of the world’s major seaports.
It is the second-biggest port in Europe, the centre of the world's diamond industry and among the globe's fashion capitals.
The Schelde, together with the Meuse and the Rhine, forms the biggest estuary in western Europe, and Antwerp is an essential part of an enormous harbour complex, one of the greatest in the world.
Antwerp's boom time came in the 16th century, when it blossomed as a trading port. But, unlike other once-mighty Belgium cities, it has constantly rebooted to stay relevant, rather than accept an inevitable decline and hustle a living as a giant open-air museum.
The harbour installations of Antwerp grew especially after World War II. For many years this expansion took place on the right bank of the Schelde only, but beginning in the 1970s there was much development on the left bank as well.
Because Antwerp lies in the Dutch- (Flemish-) speaking part of Belgium, the city plays the role of unofficial capital of Flanders.
Antwerpians generally take this role very seriously, conscious as they are of the great importance of their city in the past and present. The pride and competitive attitude thus exhibited by the residents has led to their being designated by the nickname Sinjoren (from the Spanish señores).
All the hallmarks of exquisite Belgianness are here — chocolate shops, pubs serving the best beers in the world, fries being wolfed down on every corner as though they're some sort of divine life force — but Antwerp doesn't sit back on that. It's not a lazy city, and in 50 years from now, it'll probably have found a completely new field in which to punch well above its weight.