Antwerp: City overview

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Antwerp may not be the center of the world, but it once was. From the Middle Ages to the 16th century it was the largest port on the planet, a medieval entrepot and a meeting point for merchants, artists and artisans from the Black Sea to the Baltic.

Much of the city's wealth and status subsequently migrated north to Amsterdam during the Dutch Revolt, and in recent years even some of the docks that dominate the Scheldt waterfront have fallen silent.

Yet Antwerp has remained a node of European creativity and capitalism ever since, reinventing itself over the centuries as a Flemish cultural capital of fine arts and fashion and the epicenter of the global diamond trade.

Modern Antwerpenaars wear their history lightly. Judging by their immaculate dress sense, names such as Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten and Dirk Bikkembergs -- all members of the so-called "Antwerp Six" who took the fashion world by storm in the early 80s -- count for more than past masters such as Rubens, Brugel and Van Eyck.

That self-confident sense of style has also rubbed off on the city's nightlife. More than a decade since Belgian techno exploded out of Antwerp's warehouse party scene to conquer the dance music world, the city continues to attract discerning clubbers, bored by Brussels and apathetic about Amsterdam.