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Antwerp's Diamond District
Antwerp and surrounding
Culture, Traditions, Folklore,  Museums, Galleries, Exhibitions,  Markets,  Streets
Culture, Traditions, Folklore, 
Museums, Galleries, Exhibitions, 
Markets
...

At first glance, Hoveniersstraat, with its flat and dull facades of buildings from the 1960s, looks like one of the grayest, dismal and uninteresting places in Antwerp. All the other streets of this Belgian city are filled with beautiful buildings of different architectural styles.

However, first impressions are often misleading. Despite its simplicity and mediocre appearance, Hoveniersstraat is one of the most fascinating and valuable attractions of the city. The street is guarded by an entire police station and several armed soldiers. Wherever you go, you will be followed by CCTV cameras. That is all because Hoveniersstraat is the center of the diamond industry not only in Antwerp but all over the world.

Today, more than eighty percent of all rough diamonds and more than half of the processed diamonds in the world pass through the so-called Diamond Quarter, which, in addition to Hovenirsstraat, includes five more streets: Pelikaanstraat, Vestingstraat, Schupstraat, Quellinstraat, and De Keyserlei.

Antwerp has been the diamond center of the world for centuries. This city housed the first exchange, where everything from copper to gold was traded. Besides, Jews who came to Antwerp from all over Europe played an important role in the local trade. Many of their descendants still run the family business in the Diamond Quarter.

Today, one of the jewelry trade centers in Antwerp is the building of the Antwerp Central Railway Station (Antwerp-Centraal). It shouldn't come as a surprise since the tradition to sell gems and jewelry near the railways is very old. The idea was to protect the customers: they could get lost in the crowd and buy the products as discreetly as possible without attracting bandits.

Address: Hoveniersstraat 53

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Praskovia Ko

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