Why go
This short orientation helps explain why a cathedral, merchants' houses, printing workshops and a large port belong to the same story. Walk from Grote Markt toward the river and the older city becomes easier to read as a place built around exchange.
The full story
The Scheldt is the thread running through Antwerp's history. Its route to the North Sea gave merchants a way to move goods and ideas far beyond the city. The old centre still carries the result: a civic square at Grote Markt, an ambitious cathedral and the home and workshop of the Plantin-Moretus printing family. These are different kinds of buildings, yet each reflects a city with strong international connections. The river also helps explain why Antwerp remained strategically important after its period of greatest commercial growth. Later port works transformed the waterfront, so the present quays are not a preserved medieval shoreline. Look from the river back toward the historic centre, then consider how far inland the city's trading life extended. Antwerp's nickname for its residents, Sinjoren, recalls the Spanish word señor and another layer of the city's past.