Good Friday in Antwerp

The huge Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp’s city center was finally open today! It’s been under construction every other time we’ve visited the city. Chris had today off and we were just wandering about, so in we went.

Peter Paul Reubens is a famous Flemish artist. He has a house nearby that we visited with the kids once and that they learned all about in Host Nation class. On Good Friday, the cathedral was quite popular with tour groups (most people in this area get Friday and Monday off, plus it’s the end of local school’s two week spring holiday). And what a perfect place to come today!

The painting is full of motion and details. A tour guide seated his group nearby and spoke to them in English, explaining that Reubens painted it himself, not his students, and he did it right here in the cathedral, since it was too big for even his sizable studio. The Romans and the wild horse on the right panel are balanced by the women who followed Jesus on the left panel. “Reubens liked on include the viewer in the action,” the guide explained. “Can you find the person looking at you? Yes, that woman there. (also the horse) She looks at you as if you are standing here at the foot of the cross, asking you, ‘which side are you on? And to see Ruben’s complete mastery you have just to look at the armor on the Roman soldier behind the cross—see how it glints in the sun even though it is paint.”

On the other side of the cathedral is another Rubens, The Descent from the Cross. The group that commissioned the triptych alterpiece wanted it dedicated to their patron saint, St. Christopher, but rules of the Counter-Reformation dictated that saints were not appropriate for the main theme of an alterpiece. Since St. Christopher means “Christ-bearer,” Rubens painted scenes of people bearing Christ while maintaining Christ as the central theme. On the left, a pregnant Mary carries Jesus. On the right, Simeon holds Jesus in his arms and prays over him. In the center panel, John and others bear Christ’s body down from the cross. Two other Rubens, including the Resurrection of Christ, were closed until the appropriate day!

The Cathedral is really nicely renovated and has architectural ruins underneath that date to the 10th century, plus a café in the back where you can try the exclusive cathedral beer. Circling around the outside of the cathedral will reveal a number of unbelievably charming cafes. I’d saved the location of a small square in front of a nearby church when we were wandering around during covid. I later read a review of the café I’d admired in the square (closed at the time) as “the best place to feel like you’re in Paris in Belgium,” and oh man, it did not disappoint. We shivered a little under the blankets in the dappled sunlight at Bohn and Berkel. Soon, cold beer, warm food and hot coffee took our cares away. In case you were afraid it wasn’t quite charming enough, a clarinetist sat down beneath the tree and began to play. The café brought him coffee, and the music floated over the square on the breeze, until we, too, had to float on home.