Antwerp Citadel ( es, Castillo de Amberes, nl, Kasteel van Antwerpen) was a pentagonal

bastion fort A bastion fort or ''trace italienne'' (a phrase derived from non-standard French, literally meaning ''Italian outline'') is a fortification in a style that evolved during the early modern period of gunpowder when the cannon came to domin ...

built to defend and dominate the city of Antwerp in the early stages of the Dutch Revolt. It has been described as "doubtlesse the most matchlesse piece of modern Fortification in the World" and as "one of the most studied urban installations of the sixteenth century".

History

The citadel was designed by the Italian engineer

Francesco Paciotto Pietro Francesco Tagliapietra known as Francesco Paciotto (1521 - 1591) was an Italian military and civil architect, born and died in Urbino. Biography He was a pupil of Girolamo Genga at Urbino, before going to Rome to attend fhe Vitruvian Acade ...

and built on the orders of the

Duke of Alva Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

. Initial construction was completed in 1572. After the

Sack of Antwerp The Sack of Antwerp, often known as the Spanish Fury at Antwerp, was an episode of the Eighty Years' War. It is the greatest massacre in the history of the Low Countries. On 4 November 1576, mutinying Spanish tercios of the Army of Flanders bega ...

(1576) the citizens partially demolished the fortification, but it was reconstructed after the

Fall of Antwerp The Fall of Antwerp on 17 August 1585 took place during the Eighty Years' War, after a siege lasting over a year from July 1584 until August 1585. The city of Antwerp was the focal point of the Protestant-dominated Dutch Revolt, but was forc ...

(1585). The citadel saw action towards the end of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, when it was defended by diehard Bonapartists. The

Siege of Antwerp (1814) The siege of Antwerp took place during the War of the Sixth Coalition and lasted from 14 January 1814 to 4 May 1814. Background After the German campaign of 1813, Napoleon had to retreat back across the Rhine. Whereas the two armies of Bl ...

continued for a month after Napoleon's abdication. After the

Belgian Revolution The Belgian Revolution (, ) was the conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces (mainly the former Southern Netherlands) from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium. ...

of 1830, Dutch forces remained in control of the citadel until the

Siege of Antwerp (1832) The siege of Antwerp took place after fighting in the Belgian Revolution ended. On 15 November 1832, the French ''Armée du Nord'' under Marshal Gérard began to lay siege to the Dutch troops there under David Chassé. The siege ended on 23 De ...

. Demolition began in 1874 and was completed in 1881. The site became a new neighbourhood of the city, Zuid, in which the most prominent construction was the new building for the

Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp ( Dutch: ''Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen'', ''KMSKA'') is a museum in Antwerp, Belgium, founded in 1810, that houses a collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings from the fourteenth ...

Governors of the citadel

In Spanish the title of the governor of the citadel was ''Castellano de Amberes'' ("Castellan of Antwerp"). *1576: Sancho d'Avila *1577: Philippe III de Croÿ *1587–1596: Don Cristóbal de Mondragón *1606-1622: Don Íñigo de Borja * -1674: Don Pedro Sanpayo. *1674-1678: Don Mateo de Villegas. *1679–1693: Don Francisco Marcos de Velasco *1693-1695: Don Diego Gomez, Marques of Espinosa *1695-1700: Don Pedro Alvarez de Vega. *1700-: Don Luis de Borja, Marquess of Caracena. *1830–1832: David Hendrik Chassé * Don

Fernando de Solís y Vargas de Carvajal Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...

, died 1669. * Don Geronimo de Cobos, died 1643 * Don Diego de Heredia y Arambulo, died 1704 * Don Antonio de Castro y Tello, died 1659 * Don Julian Martinez de la Parra

Our Lady of the Citadel

In the Sint-Joriskerk there is still a brotherhood called Our Lady of the Citadel ( nl, Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van het Kasteel).

References

{{coord, 51.208425000000005, 4.392738888888888, display=title Buildings and structures in Antwerp Military history of Belgium 16th century in Antwerp Fortifications in Belgium