Mechelen City Hall
Mechelen is a city and a municipality in the province of Antwerp
The municipality comprises the city of Mechelen proper, some quarters at its outskirts, the hamlets of Nekkerspoel (adjacent) and Battel (a few kilometers away), as well as the villages of Walem, Heffen, Leest, Hombeek, and Muizen.
History :
Antwerp lost profitable stapelrechten (rights as first seller) for wool, oats and salt to Mechelen in 1303 when John II, Duke of Brabant, granted City rights to the town. This started a controversy between these cities that would last well into the 20th century... and possibly beyond.
In the 15th century, the city came under the reign of the Dukes of Burgundy, marking the beginning of a prosperous period. In 1473 Charles the Bold moved several political entities to the city, and Mechelen served as the seat of the Superior Court until the French Revolution.
The highly lucrative cloth trade gained Mechelen wealth and power during the Late Middle Ages and it even became the capital of the Low Countries (very roughly the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) in the first half of the 16th century under Margarete of Austria's reign
Trade and Commerce:
The city entered the industrial age in the 19th century. In 1835, the first railway on the European continent linked Mechelen with Brussels, and it became the hub of the Belgian railway network. This led to a development of metalworking industries, among others the central railway workshops which are still located in the town today.
|
