We got up and had a good breakfast and then took a cab to the main art museum, the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. This is a must see museum, as they have some very famous works. The most interesting painting in my opinion was the Virgin and the Child by Jean Fouquet. Fouquet has few surviving works - this one in particular is almost surrealistic in its use of coloration and use of broad geometric shapes for the figure of the Virgin.
The
facace of the Koninkijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten |
|
The
room just past admission is painted in murals with a huge skylight |
A
column inside the museum |
Ticket
for the museum - there are various front |
Aviva
in the entryway with a sculpture |
The
Virgin and the Child by Fouquet |
Madonna
at the Fountain by Jan van Eyck |
|
A
painting we liked (didn't get the artist's name) |
The
Fall of the Rebel Angels by Frans Floris |
A
detail from the painting above |
|
A
painting we liked (didn't get the artist's name) |
Another
detail from the painting above |
Eve
by Lucas Cranach |
Judith
by Jan Metsus |
We walked around and ended up at the Museum Mayer van den Bergh. They had a work by a son of Bosch but photos weren't allowed and they didn't have a postcard of that one, but it was worth the visit. I notice a lot of similarity between the fantastic works of Bruegel and Bosch.
Ticket
for access to the collection |
Dulle
Griet by Pieter Bruegel the elder |
We tried to get into the main cathedral, O.-L.-Vrouwekathedraal, but it closes at 3P and we were 15 minutes late.
The
entrance to the main cathedral in Antwerp |
A
detail from the facade |
We walked across the old market square, Grote Markt.
A
building on the old market square |
Row
houses along the old market |
We walked around to the Sint Pauluskerk. The woman working behind the desk at our hotel had suggested this church as one worth visiting for its interior.
The
main facade |
A
sculpture area off the main entrance |
Four
busts from inside the church - note the relics in glass under each bust |
We took a train to Brugge - it took about 1 hour, 20 minutes to get there. The hotel was average, the Best Western Premier Hotel Navarra; it was named after the consulate for Spanish Navarra that occupied the building before the hotel.
Two
views of the Antwerp Centraal train station |
|
Our
train ticket to Brugge |
Send
email to Bob at electricbob@alephnaught.com
Send
email to Aviva at avivakramer@earthlink.net