Het Steen (Burg Steen)

Antwerp's oldest building, a 13th-century medieval city fortress on the bank of the Scheldt river.

Het Steen — the Stone or the Castle — is Antwerp's oldest surviving building, standing directly on the right bank of the Scheldt. The fortification was built between 1200 and 1225 as the gateway to a larger ducal castle; the rest was demolished in the 19th century, but Het Steen survived. Over the centuries it served as a prison, then a museum. The restored structure draws visitors who want to feel the oldest layer of Antwerp along the river.