Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1920-12-08
ANTWERP: A LATTER-DAY
ATHENS

ATHENS
Antwerp. where the United States
athletes performed so notably In the
1920 olympic games. was Europe
Hamburg OF the sixteenth century
and the Athens OF the seventeenth.
This city compels American admira-
ton by It's phenomena power 10
come back" Crushed by wars in
QUESTIONS. economic bans and persecu-
tons of It's people. Antwerp always
has risen again.
Figures tell the story. Population
in 1865. l25.O0O; twenty years later,
only $4,000. From 1900 to 1850 the
population almost doubled 10 its
100000 In 1904 hundred thousand
more were added before the Germans
came in October 1914. The l2.1G0
vessels that passed IA and out of it,
flne harbor In 1905 marked an in
crease Of more than 80 per cent since
1883.
Not thar Antwerp is perennial
boom town. Ii is at least 10 centur.
les old. And during that time its
story is one Of struggle against re.
Peated tragedies When the Germans
Invaded the city It's noble cathedral
tower looked down on JUST one more.
though infinitely more cruel. blow OF
the sort IL had been receiving since
the middle ages. Napoleon (some say
Charles W compared this tower 10
Mechlin lace. Its delicate chiseling
forms network OF stone embroidery
against the sky that can he seen from
the surrounding Hat country. and from
the winding Scheldt. long before any
other building IN Antwerp Is visible
bN 1000. five hundred ships often
came and went from Aniwerp's har.
Dor In a day and two thousand wagon
loads OF merchandise usually entered
It's gates. A thousand foreign bust
ness houses were represented there
It's own merchant princes dwell In al
most regal splendor.
Amid this material wealth noble
works OF art were created. In the
city's museum were specimens Of its
glorious School--pantings by Van
Dyck, the TenierS. Memling Massys
Jordaens, Jan van Eyck and Rubens.
though the last named was better
represented in the cathedral by his
masterpiece, The Descent From the
Gross, and two other noted works.
In the Museo Plandn were relies
or thar Ebert Hubbard Of the middle
ages ChriStophe Plantin. whose press
product was no less distinctive when
hereto pamphlets were struck of
than when devout religious works
were printed and embossed
During the religious disturbances OF
the mid-siXteenth century the cathe-
dral. then considered second only to
ST. Peters at Rome was pillaged by
the lconoclasts. It's images and pie
tUres, its magnificent vases, its GO al
tars and its great organ. considered
the finest Of It's time. were burned or
broken by the torch-bearing vandals
Whitewashed walls reminded TWEEN
tieth-centnry tourists Of these depre-
dations
Other churches we're rayaeed at
that time. But what Antwerp suffer
ed then was mild compared TO the
horrors OF "the Spanish Fury" in 1876.
when that latter day Nero. the duke
Of Alya, and his Council Of Blood
began reign OF terror which saw.
agery scarcely could surpass Tying
wealthy citizens 10 horses tails. he
would drag them miles 10 trial"
=. Antwerp suffered grievously from
this debauch Of hangings. quarterings.
beheadings and butcheries. III three
days 5000 Of her men. women and
children were slain. burned or drown
ed hundreds Of the fine marble homes
destroyed. and the ;.,-'yalent Of mil
lions OF dollars worth Of property
wrecked
Ii was seven years later that the
doughty citizens Of Antwerp made
short shrlft Of the duke OF Anjou's
plotting against Flemish liberty When
the duke and his men overcame the
Flemish guard OF drawbridge. and
5000 Of the dukes troops rushed In
20 take the city, workmen fought furi-
ously with their oven shovels and CIT
liens grabbed arquebuses and chewed
coins into shape 70 load them.