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Antwerp: A Cultural Capital
| Article
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10213 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
8 / 1993 |
2,131 Words |
| Author
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Masha Nordbye
Masha Nordbye is a writer and TV documentary producer who has
traveled through more than one hundred countries. Her latest
book is Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Golden Ring (Odyssey). |
"Versailles n'est qu'un palais, mais Anvers est une civilisation. . . . Versailles is only a palace, but Antwerp is a civilization!" exclaimed Victor Hugo in the nineteenth century of the capital of Flanders in northern Belgium.
Today, Antwerp remains one of the leading cities of Europe, and, this year, it holds the honor of being Europe's cultural capital. The concept was introduced in 1985 in Athens by Melina Mercouri, Greek minister of culture. After Athens successfully served European culture for a year, the cultural ministers of western Europe decided to designate one city each year as cultural capital.
This elected city is to represent the richness and diversity not only of Europe's cultural life, but the world's as well. The city is to act as a magnet to draw together the world's communities and stimulate cultural creation and cooperation. Over the years, not only Athens, but Florence, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, Glasgow, Dublin, and Madrid have held the title.
Yet 1993 is a special year, for Antwerp is the first cultural capital of a Europe without internal borders. The program for Antwerp '93 is a cultural extravaganza. Rarely have so many art forms been present in one place and time.
ANTWERP'S GOLDEN AGE
Antwerp first became a city of world stature in the sixteenth century. Over half the world's trade passed through Antwerp, and it was an international cultural metropolis where philosophers and artists converged.
The famous Antwerp school of painting reached its zenith with such masters as Van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens. Antwerp was such a mecca for the arts that painters such as Albrecht Durer chose to reside there over Venice or Rome.
Today, one can revisit that golden age. The house where Rubens lived and worked until his death in 1640 is open to the public. Such Rubens paintings as Descent from the Cross and Rape of the Sabines brought the Flemish school to the forefront.
Not far from the Rubens House is an outstanding museum, the Mayor van den Bergh. The collection mainly consists of Flemish primitive paintings, including one by Pieter Brueghel, Mad Meg.
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