Nine centuries beneath one roof
The history of Vlasmarkt 35
House Dry Paukens
Vlasmarkt 35, historically known as Dry Paukens, stands above a medieval cellar believed to date from the late twelfth or early thirteenth century.
Its imposing two-aisled structure, with an arcade supported by drum-shaped columns of Tournai limestone, has been associated with a vanished Antwerp convent of Norbertine canonesses since the 1970s. These Sisters of Saint Mary Magdalene are thought to have lived in this part of the city between approximately 1148 and 1254. The exact location of their convent, however, has never been conclusively established.
By the fifteenth century, the site formed part of an extensive urban estate known as Sevensterre. The earliest currently known written reference dates from 4 August 1430. The estate comprised a substantial corner house on Hoogstraat, with outbuildings, workshops, a courtyard, stables and entrances from Vlasmarkt.
In 1463, the smaller house behind the main residence became an independent property. Shortly afterwards it was known as Barseloene, an early form of Barcelona. By the mid-sixteenth century, it had acquired the name Dry Paukens: The Three Kettledrums.
Behind the modest early nineteenth-century façade, substantial fifteenth- and sixteenth-century fabric survives: composite oak-beamed ceilings, historic timber floors, a nineteenth-century staircase, original internal doors and an oak roof structure.
Below the house lies part of the large shared medieval cellar and a separate sixteenth-century cellar beneath Vlasmarkt. Vlasmarkt 35 preserves an exceptional accumulation of almost nine centuries of Antwerp’s residential, commercial and architectural history.
