Abroad

We pass by the Rijksweg and descend under the viaduct to Buitenland. First, we pass townhouses until we reach a fairy-tale farm with a leaning tower as crooked as that of Pisa. “This unique hamlet was once a marshland. When the dikes were built, land was reclaimed and people could settle here,” says Luc.

“Perhaps the hamlet owes its name to that: ‘land that was reclaimed outside the dikes.’ Until 1800, few people lived here, until a certain Philip Merckx started cultivating willows, the name for one-year-old willow branches. The weaving of baskets was a thriving industry at that time. In 1845, he started a basket weaving business: De Compagnie, which flourished until 1920.”

Thanks to the wealthy Merckx family, there are special buildings here such as the Giants' House, the St. Jacob's Tower, and the Guild Chamber. “Some of them come from the World's Fair of 1894, as part of Old Antwerp that was exhibited there. They were dismantled there and set up here.”

GVA - Gazet van Antwerpen