Sint-Niklaas is a historic town, famous for the largest market in Belgium and a museum dedicated to the medieval cartographer Mercator.
Founded in the 13th century, the city was an important trading center on the route leading to Antwerp. Its historic center, which has survived to this day, was shaped in the Middle Ages. Its heart is the Big Market Square, one of the frontages of which is occupied by the classicist Sint-Niklaas Town Hall, built in the 19th century after the fire of the previous building.
The most historic buildings are concentrated around the Market Square. The tour of Sint-Niklaas includes bourgeois houses, mainly Renaissance and Baroque, being a mixture of different styles, the Church of St. Nicholas, whose tower is topped with a statue of the Virgin Mary with Child. Near the square there is the Renaissance Water Castle, used today as a bar and restaurant. The city's big attraction is the Gerard Mercator Museum, a Flemish mathematician and one of the precursors of modern cartography.
