The City Hall is one of several majestic buildings constructed in the 16th century, when Antwerp was one of the largest and most important cities in the world.

Antwerp's city hall is considered the most important Renaissance building in
the Low Countries. When the city council decided to build a new city hall in
the 16th century, they wanted a building in gothic style, but by the time the
money for the new city hall was found, renaissance had become the new architectural
style.
The design by Cornelis Floris II de Vriendt was influenced heavily

by
Italian architecture and is a Flemish variant of Florentine palaces. The city
hall was constructed between 1561 and 1565 and influenced the design of many
government buildings across North and Central Europe.
The lowest floor of the city hall consists of small shops with in total 45 small
entrances. The construction of the city hall was partly funded with the rent
received from those shopkeepers.