Grote+Markt

The Grote Markt is in Antwerp and is situated in the heart of an old city quarter. Not far away is the Scheldt river. At Antwerp's Grote Markt people can find The Barbo fountain, the city hall built on the burned down city hall and guildhalls Sint-Joris.

The legend of Barbo goes back very many years almost 2 thousand. It is a story about how a roman hero named Barbo slays a giant called Antigoon. Antigoon cut off people's hands if they were not giving him half of their cargo. Then one day Barbo was sailing in and he did not get his hands cut off. He challenged Antigoon to a duel and won. He cut off Antigoons head and one of his hands and through it into the Scheldt river. That symbolized the free waterway vital for their cities survival. The hand also showed up on the city's seal in the 13th century.

The fountain was based in the romanticism time period. It was sculpted by Jef Lambeaux in the 1833.In the 1863 they stopped having a toll to get your ship in or by the city. In 1877 The fountain was installed in the center of the city. Water also spouts from everything on the statue expect for Barbo.

Not much went on in Grote Markt. But their is some historical value to the city. Like the Barbo fountain legend. They also built their new city hall on the burnt down hall.