Mechelen is located halfway between Brussels and Antwerp and belongs to the oldest cities in the country. In the Middle Ages it even served as the capital of the Netherlands for some time. A monumental cathedral and part of the Old Town buildings have survived from this period.
The beginnings of the city date back to Germanic times, but the date of its foundation is taken in the 8th century, when St. Rombout. He founded the monastery, in the place of which the cathedral of his today stands. It is a Gothic building with a nearly 100-meter tower towering over the city's buildings, which is inscribed on the UNESCO list. Inside, you can see the Baroque altar created by Lucas Fayhdherbe, a student of Peter Paul Rubens.
In the vicinity of the cathedral stretches the Old Town with the market square, town hall and Renaissance and Baroque tenement houses. In the former palace of Małgorzata York, there is now a city theater, and one of the most interesting monuments is the baroque beginek church. In the city you can also see the Renaissance tavern, which is today a museum, where Erasmus of Rotterdam and Tomasz Morus met, as well as the oldest Renaissance building built north of the Alps, i.e. the palace of Małgorzata Habsburg.
