Antwerpen, straatzicht Terniersplaats foto5 2014-12-14 10

Meir is the main shopping street in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. It is the most important shopping area in the country, both by number of shoppers and by rent prices. The street has been mostly

pedestrianised Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...

since 1993 and is said to be the Belgian equivalent to New York's 5th Avenue. In the centre of Antwerp, Meir connects the Antwerp City Hall with the trains at Antwerp Central Station. Between 2002 and 2004, it was the most expensive shopping street in the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico- economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe ...

. Since the opening of the historic Stadsfeestzaal shopping centre in 2007, Meir regained that position. It has the highest rents of any street in Belgium, at 1,700 €/square metre/year. The name comes from the old Dutch word "meere" (lake). Meir used to be a so-called "wood lake" (''houtmeer''), where wood destined for use in furniture would be kept wet for a time.''Historiek der straten en openbare plaatsen van Antwerpen'', Thijs A, 1973, Antwerp (in dutch)

Historical buildings

* Meir 50: Royal Residence, built in 1745, served as the Antwerp residence of the

Kings of Belgium This is a list of Belgian monarchs from 1831 when the first Belgian king, Leopold I, ascended the throne, after Belgium seceded from the Kingdom of the Netherlands during the Belgian Revolution of 1830. Under the Belgian Constitution, the Belgi ...

. * Meir 85: Osterrieth House, built in 1746 in full

rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

style.

Surroundings

* Neoclassical Bourla Theatre, built in 1827 and 1834 by architect Pierre Bruno Bourla. * Antwerp Central Station, completed 1905 in an eclectic style. * Antwerp City Hall, completed 1564, in

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

style. * Trading Exchange, reconstruction of one of the world's first stock exchanges built in 1531. * Rubens House, historical home of the painter

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradit ...

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.meir-as.be
Official website of Rubens house
Shopping districts and streets in Belgium Pedestrian malls in Belgium Streets in Antwerp