The Guardian view on Antwerp: lessons from a crossroads community | Editorial

British ties with a historic European city deserve to be more widely explored

Many countries contain a city, sometimes more than one, that has acquired world fame while at the same time being an overlooked destination for busy visitors. In Europe, these cities are often places with long histories that morphed into industrial, commercial or trading hubs. Cities like Hamburg, Lyon and Turin can perhaps be seen in this way.

In Belgium, Antwerp is one of the most striking examples of this phenomenon of simultaneous fame and neglect. Antwerp is one of the great historic cities of Europe. In a highly readable new book, Michael Pye argues that, during Europe's ages of discovery, it became one of the earliest genuinely global cities too. For much of the 16th century, it was what Paris, New York or London would become in later times, a place of restless wealth and vigour where, as Mr Pye puts it, anything could happen or at least anything could be believed.