© Photo by Patty Haveman
Mechelen is one of Flanders' prominent cities of historical art, with Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, and Leuven. It was notably a centre for artistic production during the Northern Renaissance, when painters, printmakers, illuminators and composers of polyphony were attracted to the area. The area around town is famous for the cultivation of vegetables, such as asparagus and cauliflower. Mechelen was at the heart of the revival of the carillon (distinctive church bells) in the early 20th century. In 1835, the first railway in Europe linked town with Brussels.
