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Other events 2009 - 2010:
Culture Club Visit to Stuivenberg
This part of Antwerp has always been associated with poverty and misery, as well as being
dangerous, but this tour was a revelation.
Stuivenberg was once a small town which was incorporated into the city of Antwerp in 1860.
It was always a working class area and has more or less stayed that way but, thanks to an active urban renewal project, the social housing has taken on a whole new look.
The population is 35% non-Belgian, mostly older people as younger people move to better quality housing in other quarters.
The streets have a lot of charm and in this area are located, so they say, the three best fish shops in the city, catering to a large Moslem population who eat lots of fish. We also saw some lovely fruit and vegetable shops and some fresh products that none of us could identify.
The area had a pleasant village atmosphere. Most of the houses here were built between 1880 and 1910, with electricity arriving around 1920.
Antwerp was heavily bombed in WW2 with the infamous V-1 and V-2 bombs, because the port was the only intact and fully working one in 1944-45.
As a result the Germans were determined to put it out of action. Many parts of the city were destroyed and this section was not spared.
Unfortunately in the place of the previous houses came ugly 1960’s social housing, some of which still stands, but most is
now undergoing renovation.
One of the peculiarities is the “steegs” or little alleys with housing on both sides and a green area in the middle. Several of these are being restored with a new green courtyard and play areas.
Stuivenberg Plein is a real green oasis in the centre of the town
with 11 hectares of trees, plants, play areas and sport fields.
Originally, this was a cemetery but in 1880 it was moved to Wilrijk (the present Schoonselhof) and the area made into a park.
There are still a few of the original houses which were made up of just one large room.
In the late 1880s there was one well for 100 houses, no sanitary features inside and cholera was a problem. Today there is new social housing here that is attractive and well-built. We noticed that the streets were clean and well kept, a sign that the residents care about their environment.
Then we moved on to the hospital itself which has a distinguishing feature of two round pavilions (built in 1885) so that the nurses could sit in the middle and keep an eye on all their patients. This was a whole new idea at the time, a concept that was imaginative and unique to Antwerp and highly admired. These towers still exist but are no longer wards, one being the cafeteria and the other an exhibition hall.
Lastly, we visited the hospital itself, famous for its burns unit and known as the best place to be treated for industrial accidents, due to the experience the staff have accumulated, dealing with injuries from the port.
The tour ended in the exhibition pavilion, where the 125 year history of the hospital is explained and demonstrated with various kinds of equipment used over the years.
