The other side of Antwerp: Eilandje is one of the hippest neighbourhoods in Europe thanks to its Zah

In less than 10 years, the old port area has transformed from a dingy neighbourhood to “the place to be”. In an article published in 2018, The Independent named Eilandje one of the 10 hippest neighbourhoods in Europe.

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Het Eilandje, which means the small island, is located in the north of the city. Warehouses and storage buildings have been converted into cultural centres, pop-ups, clubs, restaurants and lofts.

The initial spark for the metamorphosis of the old port was the Museum aan de Stroom (MAS), the Museum by the Stream. Over 60m high and with a facade of red sandstone and curved glass, the museum opened in 2011 and houses the city’s historical, ethnographic and maritime collections.

Just over 10 years later, the striking building is a key landmark of the Eilandje area and large-scale urban regeneration.

Mayor Bart De Wever said: “We are trying to transform a city that lived with its back to the water into a city that lives with its face to the water.” This includes a new waterfront promenade and the redevelopment of the old port.

The Eilandje covers more than 170 hectares, a good third of which are docks. The oldest are Bonapartedok and Willemdok, remnants of a time when the city was under French rule. Where Napoleon wanted to create a military base, De Wever wants recreational facilities: In future, you’ll be able to swim and kayak there.

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The Havenhuis is another eye-catcher. Designed by Zaha Hadid, it acts as the headquarters of the Port Authority. The British-Iraqi architect has attached a contemporary structure on top of a former fire station, seemingly floating above the building like the hull of a sailing ship.

From here you can see the whole island, including the Montevideo subdistrict. It’s home to the Red Star Line Museum, located in the former buildings of the shipping company of the same name. It opened in 2013, and tells the story of the millions who once departed Antwerp for North America.

Montevideo and Cadix are names reminiscent of past ports of call. Both subdistricts are still in the midst of regeneration, with luxury homes and vast green spaces springing up, for example Droogdokkeneiland and Schengenplein.

The culinary scene is also attracting attention.

Brasserie La Pipe d’Anvers on Cadixstraat with its Flemish beef stew has long since ceased to be an insider tip. Neither is Instroom on Droogdokkenweg, a gastronomic refugee project with a Bib Gourmand nod from Michelin. Alongside Belgian top chef Seppe Nobels, asylum seekers create cuisine from different cultures.

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Also popular is the Brouw Compagnie, located on Indiestraat. Johan Van Dyck opened the independent brewery in 2017, and was one of the first to set up shop at the Kattendijkdok. The brewery is known for the historic Antwerp Seefbeer.

Trendy and hip is not something that Marie Juliette Marinus, Antwerp’s city archivist, would have imagined this area becoming 15 year ago. Since the early 1990s, she has been sorting through files and images of the city, which has about 500,000 inhabitants without the surrounding area and about 1.2 million with.

“The decline of the neighbourhood started in the 1960s with the expansion of the port to the north,” Marinus said. As can be seen on a map in the archives, half a century later the new port stretches beyond the Eilandje, making it the second largest port in Europe, after Rotterdam.

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The city archive has been located on the upper floors of the Felix Pakhuis at the Willemdok marina since 2006. Coffee, grain and cheese were once stored where today, 30km’s worth of written material are stored. Now, the Felix Pakhuis, built in 1860 as a warehouse, with its central 77-metre-long glass passageway, is a listed building.

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